Derek McInnes Confident in Lawrence Shankland's Potential at Rangers
Derek McInnes is adamant Lawrence Shankland will come good at Rangers – and insists the striker will be a driving force at Ibrox whether he starts or not.
Shankland has just one goal in five appearances since his summer move, and watched the start of Sunday’s 5-1 League Cup win over St Mirren from the bench as Ryan Naderi led the line and Nico Raskin wore the armband.
McInnes, though, is unmoved by the early numbers.
“Lawrence is too good not to score regularly,” the Rangers manager said. “When you have a player like Lawrence, who knows his way around the penalty box and how to score goals, I do not worry too much about it.
“Sometimes people can over emphasise these things. For me, it is a case of letting him play his natural game.
The best strikers have that instinctive side to their game, where everything looks natural and seamless. I have no doubt he will do well here.”
Shankland, 31, hit 22 goals for Hearts last season under McInnes and arrived at Ibrox as captain, but the manager made it clear from the outset that the armband would not protect him from selection calls.
McInnes stuck to that against St Mirren, turning to Naderi from the start – and the German repaid him by opening the scoring in Rangers’ first win of the season.
“I said that when I spoke to Lawrence,” McInnes explained. “Being captain does not guarantee anything, and he accepted that. He is not going to stamp his feet about it.
“Having worked with Lawrence before, he is a brilliant captain and a brilliant boy. You want your captain to have a big influence on and off the pitch, and I believe Lawrence will have that.”
While Shankland adjusts and fights for his place, another key figure sits at the centre of a different kind of uncertainty.
Raskin, who took the captaincy at the weekend, has been heavily linked with a move away, yet McInnes painted the picture of a player fully locked in.
“Every player's got a price,” he said of the 25-year-old Belgium midfielder. “Every player has got a time where it maybe suits them to move on, suits the club or whatever.
“But I think it's important for me to say that Nico's been a dream since we came in, in terms of how he's set about his work, and he doesn't look like a boy who's distracted in any way with that.
“I've no doubt there's a lot of stuff going on in the background with him. I just need to play it by ear really to be honest. I'm enjoying working with him.”
Attention now turns to Europe and a Conference League play-off that offers both opportunity and jeopardy.
Rangers host Jablonec in the first leg at Ibrox on Thursday, facing a Czech side arriving on a six-game winning run and carrying real momentum.
McInnes refused to dress the tie up with easy labels.
“It's difficult to really assess who are the favourites,” he admitted. “It's just a game that we put the emphasis on ourselves to go and win.
“They're clearly a well-organised team. They've got a few good individuals who can make the game a bit more problematic for you, but we feel as though we've got a good handle on what they are.
“They can change from shape to shape a lot even within the same personnel so we've got to be ready for that.
“I'm just really trying to concentrate on us finding our level and us getting big performances. If we can do that then, although I'm expecting a tough game, I expect it to be tougher for them.”
