Rangers should make a move for Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland as he nears the end of his contract.
That’s the view of Derek Ferguson who has a “sneaky” feeling that the Scotland international could find his way to Ibrox in the summer. After claiming both the Golden Boot and the PFA Player of the Year award last season, the 29-year-old has netted just four goals this term during a tough campaign for the Jambos. However, after returning from injury last month Shankland has started to show flashes of his Tynecastle best once again.
Rumours over a move to Rangers have swirled around Shankland in recent seasons and he is now free to pen a pre-contract agreement away from Hearts after entering the final six months of his deal. And Ferguson told Open Goal: “I’ve got a sneaky wee feeling (that Rangers’ interest in Shankland is not dead). I like Shankland. Dessers is what he is, you don’t know what you are going to get.
“I would take Shankland in a minute. You’re gonna get the captain of Hearts at Rangers for hee-haw.” Asked if Rangers should sign the frontman, he added: “Absolutely.”
One man who has already signed a pre-contract is Lyall Cameron – and Steven Naismith think the pressure will now ramp up on the Dundee midfielder as he nears the end of his deal. The 22-year-old has to wait to become a Rangers player, and Naismith told The Warm-Up, “See for him, he’ll be sitting thinking Rangers are watching every performance thinking “Are you good enough to play?”, when really, he’s a big prospect. I think he’ll be a success.”
Kevin Thomson reckons that Cameron will have to prove he has the “personality” to play for the Glasgow giants: “I like him, he’s always been a stand-out when he’s played for Dundee. He seems to tick the boxes of the profile that rangers have been trying to sign when you think about Connor Barron.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll do really well. I think he’ll be under the microscope far more than he’s ever believed, but if he’s got that personality he’ll be able to handle it”.
Heading the opposite way is Rabbi Matondo. He is currently on loan at Hannover 96 with the Bundesliga side hold and option to make the deal a permanent transfer at the end of the campaign.
However, he could have ended up at Coventry City had the deal not collapsed at the last season. Now reflecting on why the Welsh winger didn’t make the move to the English Championship, boss Frank Lampard said: “It certainly wasn’t a case of no more money, as you put it. That’s not in my realms to delve into but, since I have been in I have been working with Doug [King, owner] and Dean [Austin, head of recruitment], we are very together on what we want to do.”