Lawrence Shankland wants Rangers transfer – report

Lawrence Shankland remains a transfer option for Rangers but the club are reluctant to pay “top dollar” for him this summer, according to the Scottish Daily Mail.

A report on the outlet’s website on 1 July claims that the Hearts star wants the move as he would “jump at the chance” to sign for the Light Blues.

But with a year left on his contract Rangers don’t want to shell out a big fee for someone they could bring in for free in a year’s time.

There reportedly remains the possibility of the Gers and the Jam Tarts working out a compromise fee but that is deemed “unlikely” at this stage.

Rangers hesitate as Tynecastle striker ready for Ibrox switch

There is logic in not wanting to overspend on a player who could potentially be available for nothing in the relatively-near future, and at 28 there would be little to no resale value attached to a move for Shankland.

But the thinking was likely the same in January when Hearts were willing to hold out for a record-breaking fee, and the likes of Ally McCoist, who knows a few things about scoring goals for Rangers, have suggested a move at that stage would have seen the Scottish Premiership title head to Ibrox [Scottish Sun, 21 June].

So Philippe Clement and Nils Koppen would potentially be risking yet another season without a league trophy, and likely their jobs along with it, to look elsewhere again.

If Danilo is able to return from injury and hit the ground running, and if the incoming Hamza Igamane proves to be the supreme talent he has been tipped to be [4th Official, 18 June], then the risk would have paid off.

But there simply aren’t many more proven sources of goals in Scottish football right now – 59 for Hearts in all competitions over the past two campaigns – and if the Scotland international himself wants the move it looks like a major opportunity.

Money has been made available to spend this summer by John Bennett [Daily Record, 14 June], and if the club are interested in a move for the likes of Albion Rrahmani which isn’t going to be cheap, then perhaps the safer option would be to push to work something out with the Jambos.

Of course they won’t want to lose their captain and talisman but with 12 months left after multiple extensions were rejected they will know it is possibly now or never from their end too, and they can at least work out a replacement at this stage in a way that is far harder in the winter window.

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