Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland ‘wanted by Rangers’
Claims have been made over Rangers interest in the Hearts captain.
Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland is reportedly the subject of interest from Premiership rivals Rangers.
The Scotland striker was out of contract last summer and Ibrox was mooted as a possible landing spot for the now 30-year-old. He ended up staying put in Gorgie upon signing a three-year deal, and Shankland enjoyed another excellent season, scoring 20 goals with six assists.
Across his entire stint at Tynecastle spanning almost four years, he has netted 88 goals alongside 29 assists, playing 171 times. Now the Scottish Sun state Rangers - who finished third and behind second-placed Hearts in the 25/26 Premiership season - are eyeing a deal for Shankland ‘within the next 48 hours.’ The Evening News’ Hearts correspondent Barry Anderson has the latest developments.
Why do Rangers want to sign Lawrence Shankland?
It goes on to claim ‘the Jambos skipper is top of Danny Rohl’s list of summer signings targets.’ Shankland grew up a Rangers fan and ‘Ibrox chiefs are aiming to make the move happen this week.’ The forward is due to fly out with Scotland to America as part of their World Cup squad after coming a few minutes away from lifting the league title for Hearts, losing on the final day against eventual champions Celtic last week, as a brilliant season ended with the runners-up prize alongside Champions League qualifiers for term 26/27.
Rangers are set for an extensive summer rebuild under head coach Rohl after a calamitous season left them out the title race as post-split fixtures developed and Champions League football has also gone abegging. Chairman Andrew Cavenagh has previously stated players within Scotland are to be targeted in pursuit of domestic success. Dundee’s Luke Graham and Motherwell’s Elliot Watt are also reported targets for Rangers.
He said: “We have a pro-Scottish bias in the club today. Meaning, if you have two players roughly equal and one is Scottish then we will take the Scottish player. When we look at what positions we are filling we don’t start with people, we start with profiles.
What type of player will Rangers sign this summer?
“What positions is it, what type of person is it. An athletic centre-back or a ball-winning centre-back for example. How big, how fast? And we are always asking who is Scottish that fits that profile. Every time, we are looking at that.
“That’s not to say we can just go out and grab 11 Scots off the street and win the title. It is a bias towards Scottish players, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only criteria we look at to build a winning team. I would say we equally look at an SPFL bias. If we’re looking at two players who are roughly similar, and one has extensive SPFL experience against one that does not, we would take the SPFL experienced player.
“I would say that our European qualification has little impact on what we are trying to do this summer. We’re trying to build a squad to win the league. Our focus is on winning the league first and foremost. We do want to play at the highest possible level in Europe, for the prestige, the competition and selfishly the revenue as well, but our squad rebuild this summer won’t be dictated in August. It’s already planned for, and starts tomorrow.”