George Overhill

Mon 22 January 2024 20:40, UK

Steven Naismith says Lawrence Shankland is better than most players he’s seen at dealing with transfer speculation, amid sustained links to a Rangers move.

The Hearts boss gave what the Daily Record called a “personal Rangers transfer lesson” on 22 January, having himself moved to Ibrox from Kilmarnock as a player in 2007.

Now on the other side of the matter as manager at Tynecastle the former Gers forward advised his captain “you can’t control anything” and “if something’s to happen it will happen”.

Rangers are in need of a striker in the January transfer window and Shankland, 28, has been seen as the perfect option, although Naismith previously claimed that there had been no approaches as they attempt to get him to sign a new Jambos contract.

Now Naismith has revealed: “I speak to the players most days and Lawrence is the same. I’ve tried to just pass on my experience from when I’ve been a player in these situations. If I’m honest he’s dealt with it better than I’ve seen most deal with it and that’s it.

“The rest of it, as an experienced player and a leader, you have the conversations you need to have. Around the ways we’re going to win games of football as a team and as a squad rather than anything else.

“You can’t control anything. All you can control is what you do on the pitch. That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from it. What will be will be. If something’s to happen it will happen and if it doesn’t, then there’s loads of stuff to be fortunate about and drive towards. None other than the Euros.”

Focus

It speaks to Shankland’s professionalism that sustained links to the club he supports have apparently not knocked his focus.

If anything it appears to have inspired him to hit top form as he has scored seven times in his past six SPFL appearances, so if he was hoping to convince the Ibrox hierarchy to push the boat out for him this month he couldn’t have done much more.

Although it has been reported that the Scotland international is minded to reject the new contract offer at Hearts [Scottish Sun, 19 January], which would surely end any prospect of a Rangers move any time soon, he still wouldn’t be cheap this month.

Perhaps with 12 months left on his deal in the summer he would be relatively affordable, but if the budget was there to bring him in this month then surely Philippe Clement would have pushed for it to be put on the table already.

Whether the apparently stoic tone that Naismith has adopted recently on the subject of his star striker’s future is a sign that he accepts a departure is out of his hands, or that he knows he has nothing to worry about, is hard to say.

There will be a lot of hope among Gers supporters all the way up to the transfer deadline, but the more days that pass by the more there may be an acceptance that it isn’t happening this month.

However, if it doesn’t then Clement is going to need someone else very sharply, as attaching all hopes of further success this season to Cyriel Dessers leading the line would be wildly optimistic.

In other Rangers news, an Ibrox deal has been hit by an unforeseen delay after terms were agreed.

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