Rangers could sign their own Shankland for £5m

Glasgow Rangers need a miracle to happen to win the Scottish Premiership title this season after they lost 2-1 to Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.

The Light Blues are seven points adrift of the league leaders with three matches to go, which means that their hopes of winning the division are almost completely gone.

It was Lawrence Shankland who delivered the telling touch of the game when he swept the ball into the back of the net with a crisp finish on his left foot.

Claudio Braga won the Premiership Player of the Season award last week, but the Scotland international’s contributions for Hearts cannot be understated.

Shankland has scored 14 goals from 10.22 xG and provided two assists in 26 appearances in the Premiership for the title-chasing Jam Tarts.

How Lawrence Shankland felt about a move to Rangers last summer

Last summer, the Scottish centre-forward’s contract at Tynecastle was due to expire and there was a lot of speculation about where he would end up.

Rangers and West Brom were among the teams circling around his services before the striker decided to commit to signing a new contract with Hearts.

It has now been revealed, by The 4th Official, that “Shankland really wanted to move to Rangers for a reasonable salary” and “Rangers didn’t want the deal” under Russell Martin and Kevin Thelwell.

Instead, the former Gers chiefs signed Youssef Chermiti for £8m and Bojan Miovski for £2.6m, and neither of them have scored as many goals as Shankland (14) in the league.

Rangers, therefore, could have saved millions of pounds and had a better and more effective striker on their books if Thelwell and Martin had wanted to bring the Scottish star to Ibrox last summer.

Rangers can sign their own version of Lawrence Shankland this summer

After missing out on Shankland last year, the Light Blues could sign their own version of the Hearts star by landing one of their reported transfer targets.

It was recently reported that Leeds United attacker Joe Gelhardt, who is currently on loan at Hull City, is interested in making a move to Rangers in the summer transfer window, and that a fee of up to £5m could be enough to secure his services.

After turning down the chance to sign an excellent striker who wanted to move to Ibrox last year, the Gers must take advantage of Gelhardt’s desire to make the switch this summer.

The English attacker, who can play as a centre-forward or as a second striker, just like Shankland, ended the regular season with 14 goals from 11.16 xG in the Championship.

He is a clinical finisher, like the Hearts forward, and provides strong creativity for his teammates, ranking in the top 18% of his positional peers for xA created.

Shankland and Gelhardt both rank within the top 10% of their peers for headed shots in their respective leagues, which shows that both strikers have a knack for finding space between centre-backs to get on the end of crosses into the box.

The Leeds whiz, once hailed as a “human wrecking ball” by Jamie Redknapp, is a powerful and clinical forward who could be a battering ram, despite standing at 5 foot 9, for Danny Rohl next season.

Rangers have played with a front two at times this season, with Chermiti partnering Miovski or Ryan Naderi, and that system could suit Gelhardt, as it has suited Shankland alongside Braga for Hearts.

Playing a powerful runner and finisher like Gelhardt next to Chermiti, who is a physical presence and can back down centre-backs, could create an exciting partnership at the top end of that pitch that could rival Shankland and Braga’s in the 2026/27 campaign.

However, Hull are in the Championship play-offs this week, against Millwall in the semi-finals, and Rangers may be praying that the Tigers fall short of their dream of getting to the Premier League.

The prospect of staying at Hull and playing in the Premier League may be too much for Gelhardt to turn down if they win the play-offs this month.