BBC pundit tells Rangers to ‘pay the money’ for Lawrence Shankland transfer after Celtic defeat
Kenny Miller has urged Rangers to “pay the money” to sign Lawrence Shankland in January, following the Light Blues’ Old Firm derby defeat to Celtic.
Philippe Clement tasted defeat for the first time since he arrived in Glasgow and Brendan Rodgers’ side won 2-1 with goals from Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo Furuhashi ensuring James Tavernier’s strike was just a consolation.
The loss sees the Gers slip eight points behind Celtic, with two games in hand and BBC Sport pundit Miller believes that Rangers should pay a potential £4 million to sign Shankland and solve their striker problem.
Writing for the Daily Record (31 December) he said: “This window is so treacherous. But Rangers have to try and navigate it successfully to give themselves the best chance to lift the title. Why treacherous? Well, let’s take Lawrence Shankland who I’ve already stated should have been a target in the summer, as an example.
“A player under contract, captain of his club and top scorer in the league. Rangers would have to pay Hearts top dollar to get him. That could be two, three or four million… I don’t know.
“But what you get for your money is a player at the top of his game, who knows the opposition and scores goals at every single level he has played. Someone you would hang your hat on making an impact. But you have to pay the money.
“Rangers need players who will improve that starting line-up and that’s why this window will be tough.
“Bringing in players with high standards and mentality also drives those already in the dressing room on to lift their game to another level and say ‘I don’t want to be the guy left out’.”
Pay the money
Saturday’s Old Firm defeat to Celtic was as clear an example as any that Rangers need to sign a new number nine in January as Clement’s side looked like they would never score until a moment of absolute magic from Tavernier.
A team challenging for the Scottish Premiership title can not continuously rely on their right-back to bail them out of trouble in the biggest games. The likes of Cyriel Dessers, Danilo and Kemar Roofe should be the players popping up with the goals.
Paying the money to bring Shankland to Ibrox would solve all those problems currently facing Rangers and Clement. He knows the league, has scored goals for fun at this level and could well win the Gers the Scottish Premiership title.
Clement needs difference-makers as Miller suggests and the Scotsman is exactly that. Saturday’s defeat showed that no matter the cost, Rangers have to pay the money to bring Shankland to Glasgow in the new year.
In other Rangers news, Chris Sutton has claimed that Dessers’ performance against Celtic “killed” the Light Blues’ hopes