Shankland set – Lawrence Shankland is due to undergo a medical on Tuesday as he completes his move from Hearts to Rangers, after Ibrox activated a release clause allowing him to leave his three-year deal at Tynecastle for nothing.
Lawrence Shankland’s Rangers switch is close enough to feel like it’s already started—because by Tuesday he is expected to be undergoing a medical before finalising his move from Hearts.
The forward, 30, will complete the transfer after Rangers activated a release clause in his contract that allows him to exit his three-year deal at Tynecastle for nothing this summer, ending a wait that has stretched across multiple transfer windows and a long history of links to Ibrox.
For Rangers. the decision to push the move through is being treated as a clear statement of intent in the search for a change in direction following another trophyless season under Danny Rohl. And for Hearts supporters. it lands as a fresh kind of injury after they are still coming to terms with losing the title on the final day to Celtic.
The timetable is now tight. Shankland is believed to be set to sign a two-year deal with an option for a third before joining up with Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad ahead of Saturday’s World Cup farewell game against Curacao at Hampden.
Shankland’s name has followed Rangers through the years, only to be overlooked by a succession of managers. Now, with his capture moving from speculation to paperwork, it feels like the boyhood hero moment the links always suggested—just delayed.
At Hearts, his impact has been difficult to overstate. Shankland joined the Gorgie club in 2022 after a year in Belgium with Beerschot. and he went on to score 88 goals in 171 appearances. Before that. he played in Scotland with Aberdeen and Dundee United in the Premiership. plus Ayr United and Queen’s Park in the lower leagues.
His career also included loans from Aberdeen to Dunfermline Athletic, Greenock Morton and St Mirren. Across his club career, he has scored 236 goals in 494 games. On the international stage, he has four goals in 18 Scotland matches.
His most recent Scotland goal came in the win over Denmark in November, a strike that helped seal a place in the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
Rangers’ belief in what they’re buying is reflected in the way their recruitment philosophy has been described at board level. Speaking last week about prioritising SPFL players, chairman Andrew Cavenagh made the club’s stance blunt.
“We have a pro-Scottish bias in the club today,” Cavenagh said. “Meaning, if you have two players roughly equal and one is Scottish then we will take the Scottish player.”
He added that the club does not begin by naming positions first, but by building around profiles. “When we look at the positions we are filling we don’t start with people, we start with profiles. What positions is it, what type of person is it,” Cavenagh explained. “How big, how fast?. And we are always asking who is Scottish that fits that profile.”.
Cavenagh also insisted the approach is wider than one label: “That’s not to say we can just go out and grab 11 Scots off the street and win the title. It is a bias towards Scottish players. but that doesn’t mean that’s the only criteria we look at to build a winning team. I would say we equally look at an SPFL bias.”.
He continued: “If we’re looking at two players who are roughly similar, and one has extensive SPFL experience against one that does not, we would take the SPFL experienced player.”
That framework lands against the reality of Shankland’s move: a proven Scottish forward, with extensive Scottish football behind him, set to join the Ibrox squad after a release clause was activated.
The next steps are now simple, and consequential. Tuesday is the date for the medical. After that, Shankland is expected to put pen to paper, then shift focus quickly to Scotland—before the spotlight returns at Hampden on Saturday against Curacao in Steve Clarke’s World Cup farewell match.
Lawrence Shankland Rangers Hearts Tynecastle Ibrox medical transfer release clause Scotland squad Steve Clarke Curacao Hampden Danny Rohl Celtic title race SPFL recruitment