There has been speculation surrounding a possible Rangers swoop for Lawrence Shankland for some time now.
Last season, when he was coming to the end of his Ayr United contract, some fans clamoured for the Gers to snap him up. Then, when he started banging them in for Dundee United at the beginning of this campaign, the Daily Record reported that both Rangers and Celtic were scouting him.
Bears have been split on the links.
Some think he’s the kind of player who would score at any level, others think he’s a lower league bully who wouldn’t cut it at the top end of the Premiership table or in Europe.
On Saturday afternoon, he netted a perfect hat-trick for the Terrors in a 4-1 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill. He opened the scoring with a glancing header, rifled in a low drive from the edge of the area to grab a second, and then completed his treble with a sharp left-footed finish.
He was by far the best player on the pitch and after the game, both managers sang his praises.
“They’ve got a centre-forward who could play in any team in Scotland, and he’s playing in the Championship”, said Partick Thistle boss McCall. “So, it was tough going in the second half.”
When asked about his star man, Neilson was similarly effusive with his praise.
“There’s no doubting he’s a top player,” he said. “Our job is just to get the service to him, to get him into good positions and he’ll do the rest.”
With the Scottish Sun reporting after the game that Celtic’s head of recruitment, Nick Hammond, was at Firhill to watch the forward, it looks like the other half of the Old Firm are stepping up their pursuit.
Yet, Shankland grew up a Rangers fan and as a result, he’d surely prefer a move to Ibrox.
Ian McCall certainly believes he’s good enough and although it’s not in his best interests to admit it, Robbie Neilson probably does too. The question is, does Steven Gerrard?
