Lawrence Shankland is a very good footballer, that much is evident from a career that has seen the Hearts striker score goals wherever he goes, there is a reason why the links to Rangers won’t go away.
With 16 goals this season, Gers boss Philippe Clement is said to be interested in adding the Scotland international to his squad.
After a stunning late derby winner against Hibernian, the clamour from Rangers fans has also increased but there is one quality that Lawrence Shankland has that might be an issue for the Ibrox faithful.
Rangers fans have spotted one issue with Lawrence Shankland
There is an easy comparison with Kris Boyd that can be made with the 29-year old.
Take last night as an example, for 93 minutes he was poor.
He also missed a penalty.
But, when it mattered most, he came up with a moment of magic and sealed all three points for the Tynecastle outfit.
There was though, one word that Rangers fans were using to describe Lawrence Shankland and his performance – slow.
Maybe he could be the new Kris Boyd.
The Sky Sports pundit himself was on hand to stick up for those that aren’t blessed with pace, you don’t need to be quick if you can score goals and have speed of thought.
It’s a balance that goalscorers always have to put up with.
Look at Kyogo Furuhashi across the city, he can frequently spend the whole game getting a handful of touches but two or three of those could be goals.
Lawrence Shankland would be the first to admit that he isn’t exactly blessed with natural athleticism but that shouldn’t be an issue at Rangers.
Yes, he’s a big lad, but so was Boyd and he was scoring goals well into his 30s for Kilmarnock.
Rangers need more clinical strikers but the chances of being able to afford a Michael Mols or Nikica Jelavic are slim now.
With 18-months left on his Hearts contract, Lawrence Shankland will either leave in January or in the summer with his value depreciating with both age and time, if Rangers sign him he will score goals, just don’t expect him to get any faster.
