Who’s On Rangers Radar: Lawrence Shankland

Reports surfaced on Sunday night that Rangers had made an enquiry for the Hearts striker then those reports were retracted on Monday. Is that the end of this rumour? Who knows but let’s take a look at him anyway!

Name – Lawrence Shankland

Age – 27

Nationality – Scottish

Position – Striker

Club – Hearts

After prolific spells at Ayr and Dundee United Shankland had a go at conquering Europe but his spell on Belgium wasn’t filled with success so last summer he came back to Scotland and move to Hearts.

A poacher by trade and the numbers more than back that up. His positioning and finishing ability are his biggest strengths and he currently has 18 goals in 30 SPFL appearances this season. Nine of those goals have come from the penalty spot with the striker having a 100% penalty conversion rate.

All of his 18 goals have come from inside the penalty area, highlighting that poaching ability that he has and his current goal conversion rate is 19% which is better than both Colak (17%) and Morelos (12%). Currently averaging a goal every 135 minutes, only Colak (107mins) and Kyogo (88mins) are averaging more at the top of the goalscoring charts.

Shankland offers goals and his hold up play is strong but when it comes to controlling the ball and progressing forward he doesn’t offer much. Dribbling isn’t his strong suit and despite having four assists to his name his passing numbers aren’t the greatest either, only averaging 62% pass accuracy in the opposition half.

Shankland is very similar in profile to Colak, both goal getters who you shouldn’t rely on to create for others. So should Rangers look at different options instead of buying another Colak?

This transfer would make sense if Shankland isn’t going to be first choice and if Colak leaves, otherwise it seems like the money could be better spent elsewhere. If Colak is a striker who doesn’t suit Michael Beale’s system then Shankland is exactly the same.

The positives though are that he guarantees goals and he is also homegrown, if available at a reasonable price he may not be a bad option. After all, can you ever have too many goal scorers in a squad?