BBC Sportsound pundit Tam McManus has claimed that Rangers fans would love it if the club signed Ayr United goal machine Lawrence Shankland in the January transfer window.
Shankland, 23, has been in prolific form for the Scottish Championship leaders this season, scoring 27 goals in 23 appearances across all competitions.
The former Scotland Under-21 international was born in Glasgow and is a boyhood Bear, and ex-Hibernian star McManus believes that he would be a solid addition for the Light Blues next month.
“I think the Rangers fans would love to have him,” McManus told RockSport Radio on Tuesday night, as shown on their official Twitter account. “I don’t speak for the majority but I think Rangers would take him in the door within a minute.
“He’s a goalscorer. I think Rangers are lacking if you take [Alfredo] Morelos out of the team.
He added: “He would go ahead of [Kyle] Lafferty in the pecking order. He’s a goalscorer and Rangers are creating a lot of chances and just not taking them.
“I never seen the game but I saw the statistics from the game at the weekend. Over 30 crosses into the box, that’s a striker’s dream.
“If Shankland’s on the end of them, it doesn’t matter what he does outside the box, inside the box he’s lethal.”
Tuesday's Talking Football with @BillRockSport and Gerry Collins https://t.co/LWN3qHoMlf
— Rock Sport Radio (@RockSportDAB) December 18, 2018
OPINION
Forget Morelos, Shankland is the most in-form striker in Scotland this season. His goalscoring antics at Ayr have been incredible. Last season he fired them to promotion from League One with 26 goals and 13 assists in 30 league games. This season he has moved up to a better league but has somehow been scoring more goals.
Rangers would be crazy to ignore the exploits of Shankland, especially as he is a Rangers supporter and could easily make an impact in the Scottish Premiership. He is definitely playing well below his level in the Scottish Championship and he needs to move up to the top-flight.
If the Gers can sign him in January it would cost them a fee but it would also give them some extra firepower to contend with Morelos for a spot in the starting line-up. However Shankland is out of contract at the end of the season, so Rangers could try and sign him for free then. Either way, Steven Gerrard needs to try and get him signed up.