Scottish Premiership challengers Rangers reportedly want to bring Dundee United’s Championship goal machine Lawrence Shankland to Ibrox.
There are certainly a few similarities between Lawrence Shankland and Rangers legend Ally McCoist.
Like the former Scotland goal-machine, Shankland is a man who makes finding the net look easy. He’s not the most well-rounded of footballers but give him the ball inside the box and he’ll find the corner.
In seven league games since joining Dundee United from Ayr, Shankland has scored a remarkable 13 goals. In all competitions, his tally stands at 15 in 12. A first ever Scotland call-up, announced on Tuesday ahead of the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Russia and San Marino, was well deserved.
And Shankland could be about to follow in McCoist’s footsteps with a move to the blue half of Glasgow. According to the Daily Record, Rangers scouted the 24-year-old as he scored a hat-trick against Morton on Saturday with a fee of £2 million potentially enough to convince Dundee United to cash in (Shields Gazette).
McCoist himself would certainly give this deal the thumbs up. The former Gers manager is a big fan of Shankland, encouraging Steve Clarke to give him a chance at international level just last week. And the admiration is clearly mutual.
“It was flattering to hear people speak about me in the same breath as the Scotland squad but in all honesty it was nothing I had thought about,” Shankland told the Daily Record.
“It was good to hear somebody like Ally McCoist, who had played at the top level back me.”
Just to add another intriguing subplot to a snowballing transfer saga, former Ayr boss Ian McCall revealed to the BBC yesterday that Shankland was ‘very close’ to joining Rangers in 2018.
The phrase ‘better late than never’ comes to mind.
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