Rangers: Tom English shares Lawrence Shankland transfer verdict after Tynecastle development
Tom English does not believe Lawrence Shankland will leave Hearts for Rangers before the January transfer window closes.
Shankland has been repeatedly linked with a move to Ibrox all month, but time is ticking down ahead of the February 1 deadline.
The Scottish Sun reported on Saturday (27 January) that Rangers scouts were present at Tynecastle for Hearts’ league clash with Aberdeen.
That led to inevitable talk of the Gers still being in the hunt for Shankland, but BBC Sport reporter English does not believe that is the case.
“I don’t think Shankland is going anywhere – he’s staying where he is,” English said on the Scottish Football Podcast [27 January].
We’ll see
Rangers have recruited well in the January window, having brought in attacker Fabio Silva and midfielder Mohamed Diomande so far.
Left-back Jefte is looking like he will be the next to arrive, and there could possibly be room for one more as other players are being offloaded.
The Gers may well wait until the summer to bring in a new striker – if that is the plan at all – but signing Shankland now would be massive.
There is no reason why the Scotland international cannot hit the ground running and bag a hatful of goals over the remainder of the season.
Shankland may come at a price, relatively speaking, but it would be worth paying in order to chase down and overtake Celtic at the summit.
If that means tightening the purse strings a little come the summer, so be it. Shankland is a player for the here and now and worth going for.
There may have been little movement on this front throughout the window, but let’s watch this space over the remaining few days.
In other Rangers news, a piece of transfer business may now be on the verge of completion at Ibrox.
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