Reported Rangers target Lawrence Shankland compared to ‘prime’ Alfredo Morelos after latest Hearts strike
Hearts forward and reported Rangers target Lawrence Shankland has been compared to a “prime” Alfredo Morelos by Livingston boss David Martindale.
Shankland scored the winning goal for Hearts in their 2-1 Scottish Premiership victory at Tony Macaroni Arena on Tuesday (2 January).
That was the prolific attacker’s seventh goal in six outings and his 13th in 21 league appearances overall for Hearts this campaign.
Rangers have been strongly linked with Shankland this window, with Kenny Miller among those to urge the Gers to pay Hearts’ asking price.
In the view of Martindale, Rangers would be signing a player better than Morelos at his peak if they move for Shankland.
However, the Livingston manager also warned any interested clubs that the Scotland international will not come cheap, relatively speaking.
“He must be worth four or five million pound,” he is quoted as saying by the Edinburgh Evening News [2 January].
“I look at him and compare him [to others]. He’s completely different from Kyogo [Furuhashi] but he’s slightly like Morelos.
“Lawrence has more in his overall game and a better mentality. When Morelos was at his prime, it’s a tough one but I’m probably taking Lawrence.
“He doesn’t have any temperament problems. I’d love to see him, as a football fan, go and progress.”
Martindale went on to point out that Shankland is scoring goals from all sorts of positions against opponents of different calibres.
The £4million mentioned tallies with the sum that it is widely considered will be enough to land Shankland.
That is no small change, especially on the back of a busy summer for the Gers, but they know exactly what they are getting in the ex-Dundee United ace.
Morelos may have recently been rather fancifully touted as a free transfer target for the Light Blues, but they can go out and land the real deal if some funds can be freed up this month.
In other Rangers news, a Sky Sports News reporter made a “ruined” joke following an incident in the Gers’ win over Hibernian.