The Lawrence Shankland to Rangers saga has taken several twists amid contract offers, Scottish Cup absences, and raking over the Ibrox player trading coals.
Hearts talisman Shanks has been the form striker in the Scottish Premiership this season with the Scotland international netting a stunning 13 goals on league duties.
Throw in the other five the ex-Dundee United and Beerschot hitman has hit between the League Cup and Europa Conference League qualifiers and a return of 18 is an almighty one at this point of the season.
For many Rangers fans, signing Lawrence Shankland could be the difference between winning 56 and losing out on the automatic £30m extra in the Champions League jackpot that comes with it.
But the latest transfer news surrounding the player has both piqued the interest of supporters and had them thinking twice.
Lawrence Shankland to reject Hearts contract
Reports this week that Hearts had offered Lawrence Shankland a new contract were backed up by the club’s CEO Andrew McKinlay.
Claiming that no club have officially registered an interest in the 28-year-old striker, the Jambos clearly hope to see Shankland stick around beyond next season.
But those reports have now been pushed back by claims in the Scottish Sun that the offer will not be good enough tempt the striker to sign.
Throw in the fact that Steven Naismith claims a mystery illness could rule Shankland out of Hearts Scottish Cup clash with Spartans, and suddenly eyebrows continue to rise.
Whilst we’ve no reason to disbelief the former Ibrox striker, by not including the forward in his squad in means Shankland wouldn’t be cup-tied if he was to move to Rangers.
Philippe Clement eyes sellable Rangers assets
Not to be outdone by the pendulum swinging closer to Rangers when it comes to Lawrence Shankland, Philippe Clement swung it right back to Hearts.
Whilst the Ibrox manager has been very tight-lipped when it comes to potential targets, comments on the club’s player trading model are of interest in the context of Shankland.
At 28-years-old the Scottish Premiership hitman’s age and stature in the game probably don’t qualify him as someone the club would be looking to move on at a profit.
“We want to get transfers in that can have impact now but also can have added value for the next couple of years on the field and selling them for bigger amounts,” said Clement.
“Because if you look back the last couple of years this is also one thing that the club has missed.
“They didn’t have big outgoing transfers and because of that getting money to do other things. So we need to get better in that.”
That doesn’t exactly sound like Lawrence Shankland now, does it?
