Lawrence Shankland: The numbers behind why Rangers are finally snapping up Hearts star
Lawrence Shankland’s production is well-known, but it’s the striker’s underlying numbers that show why Rangers have been do desperate to sign the Hearts star.
After numerous links to Rangers in the past, Shankland finally looks set to ink a contract at Ibrox.
Despite scoring a Scottish Premiership-best 76 goals in 2025-26, the post-split run-in made it abundantly clear that more cutting edge is needed in attack.
With Danny Rohl staying on as manager, Andrew Cavenagh and the 49ers need to back the German in the transfer market this summer in order to justify their bold decision.
That’s exactly what they appear set on doing, as a blockbuster transfer swoop for Shankland shows.
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How strong were Lawrence Shankland’s underlying 2025-26 stats?
Shankland is reportedly returning from holiday to sign for Rangers, as he looks to accelerate a move to his boyhood club.
It’s reported that the 30-year-old will pen an initial two-year contract with the option of a third, and Gers could even be securing his services for nothing due to a break clause in his Hearts contract that enables him to tear up his deal and sign for someone else.
| Lawrence Shankland fact file | Result |
| Date of birth | 10 August, 1995 |
| Place of birth | Glasgow |
| Height | 6’1″/1.85m |
| Began career with | Queen’s Park |
| Goals scored for Hearts | 88 |
Shankland has long proven himself as one of the top strikers in Scottish football, with three of his four seasons as a Hearts player seeing him score at least 20 goals in all competitions.
His deadly goalscoring production is well-documented and known, but it’s his hidden numbers that show just how good a player he is, and proves exactly why Rangers will be delighted to get a deal done for him.
As per FotMob, no striker in the Scottish Premiership last season played more successful passes than Shankland’s 536, or more accurate long balls than his 27 respectively.
On top of that, the same can be said for his 116 recoveries, 33 possessions won in the final third and six clean sheets kept whilst on the pitch respectively.
Meanwhile, his 86 shots, 37 shots on target and 35 chances created respectively ranked him in the top 3.6 percentile of Scottish Premiership strikers in 2025-26.
Shankland’s 59 defensive contributions placed him in the top 5.4 percentile of his positional peers, whilst his 22 tackles ranked him in the top 7.1 percentile respectively.
Would Shankland and Youssef Chermiti work together?
Should Shankland indeed sign for Rangers, that will open up some questions on how Rohl will set his team up in attack next season.
Youssef Chermiti’s 15 goals and five assists saw him enjoy a good debut season in the Scottish Premiership, but would the Portuguese talent be able to play alongside Shankland in a front two?
Well, the answer to that would surely be yes, as the two stars could complement each other’s respective playstyles very well indeed.
Shankland created more chances (28 to 16), played more accurate passes per game (19.5 to 14.8), made more clearances (1.01 to 0.41) and won more possessions in the final third (1.14 to 0.59) than Chermiti did last season.
However, the Rangers man averaged more tackles per game (0.71 to 0.53), more successful dribbles per 90 (1.24 to 0.53) and took a greater number of shots per 90 (2.84 to 2.55) than the Hearts man did respectively.
Combining the experience, proven goalscoring nature and defensive production of Shankland with the big, enigmatic and confident talent of Chermiti could be a partnership to fire Rangers to the Scottish Premiership title.
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