Lawrence Shankland explains Hearts exit clause after Rangers transfer and his stance on final day title pain
Lawrence Shankland is one of three figures to have swapped Hearts for Rangers this summer.
Lawrence Shankland has opened up on the circumstances behind his controversial move from Hearts to Rangers.
The Scotland international who was at the World Cup last month left the Jambos earlier this summer after a clause in his contract allowed him to join his boyhood club and Hearts’ Premiership rivals. He has been followed to Govan by manager Derek McInnes and midfielder Cammy Devlin who have also left Tynecastle after a second-placed finish last term.
His move to Glasgow and contract clause has left opinion divided on how his time at Hearts will be remembered but Shankland always wanted the move to Ibrox were it to be an option. It all became ‘smooth sailing’ after the forward alerted parties to the fact he was keen on Rangers after 88 goals in 171 Hearts outings.
Why did Lawrence Shankland leave Hearts?
He told the Scottish Sun: “I can’t go into the clause too deeply because it’s between myself and Hearts, so I’m not going to expand on that too much, but there was a clause in my contract. It wasn’t just Rangers as a club, if a potential move for me came then it would be something that both myself and the club could work towards to make it happen. Once I let them know that I wanted to come here then it was pretty smooth sailing from then on – it was all pretty clear. I was obviously delighted to get signed up last season.
“Every deal you sign in your career is really important to you and of course the aim for every player is you’ve got to have ambition, you’ve got to want to push yourself on. Rangers is somewhere I’ve always wanted to be and I knew I’d have to go and have a good season again and try and impress, to try and get here. Every player’s ambition is that you always want to go bigger and better. I feel that’s a normal mentality, but this is a place I always wanted to be and I’m just delighted to be here.”
Shankland’s last appearance in a maroon jersey was scoring at Parkhead in a final day shootout where Hearts ultimately lost the league to Celtic. A pitch invasion and stormy scenes afterwards had the team marched straight up the tunnel and onto the team bus before a warm reception from fans back at Tynecastle. That is behind him now as he targets silverware in Govan.
Lawrence Shankland on Hearts title race
He said of the final day drama: “It feels like years ago if I’m honest. Obviously, you need to pack it pretty quickly to go to a World Cup and coming here feels like a fresh start as well. It was disappointing at the time, but I’m definitely over it now. When you sign up for a football club you know what the expectations are. Myself as a player and the manager, we’ve all got ambition to go and win stuff in our careers as well.
“Unfortunately for me I’ve only managed to win lower league stuff to this point, but I feel coming here gives me a really great opportunity to go and get my hands on some trophies and that’s what we’re sent out to do. You want to sign quality, we’ve got quality players in the building and you want to always add to that.