Rangers to sign Lawrence Shankland this window, ‘if’… | OneFootball

Rangers will sign Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland this window, but only if the Gorgie side are willing to accept a fractional fee for his signature with just one season left on his deal.

Ibrox Noise understands Rangers and Philippe Clement are interested in Shankland, and aware of him, but there is an unwillingness to shell out anything more than £1.5M on a 28-year-old with modest resale value whose contract expires in less than 12 months.

For Hearts’ part, the Tynecastle side are now resigned to losing him at the end of his deal after talks over a new contract in Edinburgh went flat – Shankland is understood to be reluctant to sign a new deal with Hearts given the chance to join Rangers is very much there and Steven Naismith can’t come close to Rangers’ salary hike.

Of course, there is no offer on the table yet for Shankland, but Rangers do want him, they just won’t pay the £6M Hearts could have (tried to) demand some time ago, expecting to shell no more than £1.5M for the former Ayr man.

The Shankland to Rangers saga has been running for as long as Alan Smith and Vlad Weiss, but it all rests on Rangers actually making a move for someone the fans would love.

And that’s not something this regime tends to do – Philippe Clement has no interest in pleasing supporters with his signing choices, he and Director of Football Recruitment Nils Koppen have targets they want based on their specifications, and that’s who they bring in.

Shankland may well be in that group, but he won’t be signed to appease Rangers fans.

This one may well run yet another entire summer.