With Lawrence Shankland’s Rangers signing imminent to be announced, the now former Hearts captain has planned this move for years. Clever Lawrence Shankland prepared for this. It is widely known he has always wanted his move to Rangers. He was a boyhood Rangers fan and his dream of joining the Famous is about to come true.
Rangers Rejected Him Before
There is also the topic of the captaincy, which we will get to in a separate article. However, the big deal in this one is Shankland’s intelligence.
Lawrence Shankland desperately wanted to come to Rangers last summer. Alas Russell Martin, Dan Purdy, and Kevin Thelwell were not interested in the signing at that time. Consequently, it did not materialise.
Philippe Clement was slightly interested in him, but Rangers would not bid the big bucks that Hearts greedily wanted back in the day. Rangers lowballed an offer because Shankland was in the last six months. It was rejected and that was that.
Rangers did not go back in for the Hearts captain after that. We have all been so very frustrated that Rangers refused to properly sign a player destined to be a Rangers man at some point.
And Shankland himself had to wait, wait, and wait.
The Clever Contract Move
However, when the deal of his expired contract became a big story last summer, Shankland realised he was not going to get the offer from Rangers that summer that he wanted.
He was not going to be approached. And Russell Martin, for his wisdom, of course, did not make a move towards Gorgie.
This left Shankland with a decision to make. And he did so with extreme intelligence and shrewd planning.
Shankland was committed to Hearts out of necessity. He did not want to move to England and he did not want to move anywhere else.
But Hearts knew he did not want to stay there long term. Even although they wanted to keep him for at least another season.
His new contract was reported as being a three-year deal. He was committed to that new deal at Tynecastle and consequently Hearts and Rangers were under the impression that that was that done and his move to Rangers was over.
His dream was over.
But behind the scenes, Shankland had been preparing for what we are seeing today.
How Shankland Saved Rangers Millions
Indeed, what was not known at the time was that Shankland signed just a one year deal with an option for a further two. He was playing the long game.
He did this in the belief that Rangers would come back in for him the following summer. Perhaps in the hope that they would.
The idea here, of course, was that the option of the second two would give Rangers absolutely no needed budget to sign him.
That is to say, he is a free.
He will not be taking up those two extra years at Hearts and he finally manages to get the move to Rangers. He also does Rangers a big service by making himself free.
This has been an absolutely key attribute.
Rangers could have afforded him. In truth, Rangers can now afford a lot with the 49ers and their investment levels.
Of course there is FFP and we need to be mindful of that, but within the pure scope of capital, Rangers are strong.
They certainly could have afforded a £5M investment for Shankland, but he has saved Rangers a lot of money.
He has saved a fortune for Rangers by ensuring it was just a one year deal with the extension possibility of two.
The Dream Finally Comes True
That meant when Rangers came back in this summer, he was ready.
Clever Lawrence Shankland was ready to walk away from Tynecastle for his boyhood club.
He had shown Hearts huge loyalty and massive service. Very few decent Hearts fans would begrudge him the move he has dreamed of his whole life.
From what we understand, it is just a medical to get resolved, if that has not already been done. Then comes the big announcement when we see him being paraded in the Rangers shirt.
It is what he has absolutely dreamed of.
There is no player on planet Earth who has dreamt of this more than Lawrence Shankland. No one else has wanted to play for Rangers as much as Shankland has.
Finally, clever Lawrence Shankland his move, and we will see it materialise in the coming hours or indeed days.
But let us not forget just how shrewd he was to make this happen.