George Overhill

Sun 21 January 2024 17:10, UK

Steven Naismith has admitted that Lawrence Shankland will have “opportunities and offers” available to him thanks to his contract running down amid widespread links to Rangers.

The Hearts captain’s Tynecastle deal expires after next season and has been offered an extension, although he is reportedly set to turn it down [Scottish Sun, 19 January].

The Jambos manager claims there has not been any transfer contact from Ibrox or anywhere else this month for the 28-year-old goalscorer, but accepts the speculation can be “hard to deal with” for the player.

That speculation increased after Shankland was left out of the Hearts line up for Scottish Cup visit to The Spartans on Saturday, although Naismith insists that was due to illness rather than anything related to a departure.

He said, via Glasgow World: “We’ve had no offers, no off-the-record chat … there’s loads of this speculation that he might get this move or that and numbers get thrown around. We’ve had nothing as a club, but for Lawrence that can be hard to deal with.

“Over the last few months he has dealt with it brilliantly, he understands the situation he is in. But as a club all we can do is show him how much value we think he has got, how much love we have for him and what he can achieve here.”

On the contract offer reportedly being rejected the Jam Tarts boss said, via The Scotsman: “That’s for Shanks to decide if that’s the case or not. When you get to the end point, we will do what we can physically do.

“It’s a process and, inevitably, we will get to the end point. The club will do all we can to keep him and it’s a big decision for him. He will take as long as he needs to decide.”

“Players who run their contracts down potentially have opportunities and offers which aren’t there when you are under contract. He’s got 18 months left, we have started speaking to him about a new deal, we will get to an end point and see where that takes us.”

Window opening or closing?

Now is clearly a very good time for Rangers to put a tempting offer on the table with Shankland faced with a decision over his future in Edinburgh anyway.

That it appears they haven’t done so suggests the finances simply aren’t there behind Philippe Clement this month, given Hearts aren’t going to let him go for a bargain price either way.

If the striker does turn down the contract offer then it would probably be seen as very close to a come-and-get-me plea ahead of the summer, which may be the last opportunity to get him at the peak of his powers for something relatively affordable.

Cyriel Dessers’ performance in front of goal at Dumbarton, despite eventually finding the net in the 4-1 win, will surely only have incentivised Rangers to do all they can to source a reliable scorer this month.

And worrying injury developments, once again, for 15-goal Abdallah Sima have increased the pressure on the available attacking options for the rest of the campaign further.

So the need for a player like Shankland could hardly be more evident, but whether the money is available is bound to be the deciding factor.

Naismith has acknowledged the reality of the situation and accepted that the Scotland international himself, a Gers supporter, has a say in the situation, but the lack of action from Ibrox doesn’t speak to a deal happening this month.

Rangers will have to hope he doesn’t sign a new contract in the mean time and the opportunity to land him is lost, otherwise a summer move looks far more feasible than the one that would be so useful now.

In other Rangers news, Clement has admitted that a player could leave the club the day after playing during the transfer window.

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