The news that Scotland international Lawrence Shankland is “not close” to agreeing to a new deal at Hearts may help Rangers in their possible pursuit of the £3 million player.
Any more talks between Heart of Midlothian and their free-scoring center-forward between now and the conclusion of the season will probably determine whether or not this is Lawrence Shankland’s last season at Tynecastle, since his contract expires in the summer of 2025.
If Hearts decide to cash in this summer rather than risk losing him for nothing a year later, he will undoubtedly have many of supporters.
Shankland has 27 goals this season across all competitions, indicating that Rangers were considering him during the January transfer window, according to reporter Peter O’Rourke. These kinds of center-forwards are not very common.
And most definitely not for a sum of about £3 million.
Rangers gifted Lawrence Shankland chance
According to Hearts chairwoman Ann Budge, not only has Shankland not signed a new deal, he is not even ‘close’ to doing so.
“It’s not definitely close. Not at all,” Budge tells PLZ Soccer. “He’s still got 18 months left on his contract, there or thereabouts, so a large part of it is up to Lawrence. He’s a young man and is looking at what’s right for his career.
For us, Shankland has been excellent. Furthermore, I hope we’ve been beneficial to him as well. We still communicate, and we really hope he stays.
But as we all know, he’s a man in demand. And that, in my opinion, will only rise. In the end, he will make the decision.”
Shankland, who turns 29 in a few months, is not going to have a better opportunity to play for one of the major Old Firm teams, or a club south of the border if he would rather. With an incredible 55 goals in just 84 Hearts games, one can only speculate about the stats he could rack up at Ibrox if he were surrounded by the inventiveness of Todd Cantwell, Ross McCausland, James Tavernier, and Tom Lawrence.
Hearts could lose 27-goal striker
Kenny Miller—a former Celtic and Rangers player—tells Clyde Super Scoreboard that Lawrence Shankland would want to make it happen if he saw one of the Old Firm teams approaching him at this point in his career.
“He would like to be employed by a manager such as Brendan Rodgers.” For him, that would be a huge benefit. (Rodgers) has an amazing history of elevating athletes to new heights. He wouldn’t need much persuasion, in my opinion.
Miller continues, “(But) I just think there is more of an opportunity for him at Rangers.” “since they don’t own a Kyogo.”
