Rangers move for Shankland still feels painfully late

Lawrence Shankland, the Hearts captain and lifelong Rangers supporter, is set to seal a two-year deal at Ibrox after agreeing terms, with Rangers reportedly using a release clause. The timing draws sharp scrutiny—especially after Rangers spent heavily on Cherm

Lawrence Shankland has a way of making Ibrox feel smaller than it should. Now, Rangers finally look ready to act on that reality—just as Hearts are paying the price.

Shankland. the 30-year-old Hearts captain and a lifelong Rangers supporter. is understood to have agreed terms for an expected two-year deal. with his move to Ibrox set to be sealed this week. The fit is obvious on paper: he is described as the best striker in Scotland. he knows the Premiership inside out. and the deal is believed to be enabled by a release clause in Shankland’s Hearts contract.

But the question sitting under every detail is uncomfortable for Rangers: why has it taken so long to wake up to what they were already seeing clearly? The argument that follows is not about whether the signing makes sense. It is about the timing—and what that delay has cost them.

If Rangers had a long-standing recruitment plan. they would not have waited until now to sign a player who is 30 and. as the debate frames it. doesn’t have long left at his peak. The piece of the timeline that hurts most is that Shankland was available as a free agent 12 months ago. Even before that. he could have been identified three seasons earlier—something Hearts did in 2022 when they spotted and moved for his potential.

Instead, Rangers’ spending over the past year is pointed to as the kind of approach that fails to strengthen the club with joined-up thinking. Last summer, Rangers spent upwards of £8million on Youssef Chermiti and £3-4m on Bojan Miovski, an outlay that is framed as falling short on value for money.

While Rangers toiled under Russell Martin and Danny Rohl last season, Shankland was busy making sure the problem looked personal. Hearts finished eight points above Rangers. In head-to-head matchups. Shankland scored four goals in three wins against the Rangers side. showing exactly what Rangers were missing when they needed to be at their most ruthless.

The move to secure Shankland is therefore presented less as a surprise and more as a belated correction—“better late than never. ” as the argument goes. There is also the claim that recent recruitment at Ibrox is beginning to shift toward a policy that pays more respect to Scottish players. Rohl. in this telling. is not blamed for the mistakes made by predecessors; the signing is described as sensible because it “ticks all the boxes.”.

And yet for Hearts, the impact is already landing like a punch.

Shankland’s departure comes at the end of what is described as a nightmare week for the club’s historic title challenge. which came up “cruelly short.” Even if Hearts insist this is ‘just the start’ under power-broker Tony Bloom. losing the player who repeatedly exposed Rangers’ weaknesses while finishing below them in the table is treated as an immediate reminder of where the club sits in the pecking order.

As Shankland packs his bags, another potential exit is hovering. Cammy Devlin—an out-of-contract Australia international—has been linked with a move to Major League Soccer. Craig Halkett is also injured long-term. Claudio Braga is expected to attract bids this summer. and already there are doubts about whether Hearts can repeat what they achieved last season.

There is a wider question here too, connected to Bloom’s player-trading model. Defying the odds is described as his speciality: identify undervalued players, sell them on for profit, and grow through repetition. The problem for Hearts is that the margin for error tightens when progress now means winning the Scottish championship. not just competing for it.

Midfielder Devlin is also described as having worked for him at Union Saint-Gilloise and at Brighton, but the worry is whether that development arc can carry into Hearts—especially when the standard has shifted from “almost” to “win.”

The argument stretches back to last season’s Old Firm weakness too. The suggestion is that Rangers and Celtic won’t be as collectively weak again, meaning Hearts’ run of one-off success can’t simply be expected to repeat.

Shankland’s Ibrox move. at best. is described as a boost for Rangers and. more sharply. as an even bigger blow to Hearts—particularly if the fee is. as framed here. nominal. That is where the unease returns for Rangers supporters: the signing itself may look like the right piece. The delay makes it feel like a missed opportunity.

Rangers can celebrate landing Lawrence Shankland this week, but Hearts are already having to absorb the cost of a title challenge that didn’t land—and of losing, once again, a player who knows exactly how to hurt them.

Rangers Ibrox Lawrence Shankland Hearts Tony Bloom Cammy Devlin Chermiti Bojan Miovski Craig Halkett Claudio Braga Scottish Premiership