Rangers Captain Lawrence Shankland Faces Four Months Out with Hamstring Injury
Rangers have been dealt a brutal early-season blow. Captain and talisman Lawrence Shankland faces up to four months out with a torn hamstring, and surgery is on the table.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Scottish Premiership meeting with St Mirren, Derek McInnes confirmed his 31-year-old striker has suffered a recurrence of the same injury the pair endured together at Hearts last season. That lay-off cost Shankland nine weeks. This one could be longer.
“He’s had a tear, it’s a 2cm tear in his hamstring, so very similar to the one he did previously at Hearts in January,” McInnes said. Shankland is in London for an ultrasound and follow-up scan as specialists decide whether to operate or allow the muscle to heal naturally, as it did the last time.
The choice is stark. Surgery would likely add three or four weeks to his absence but reduce the risk of the problem flaring up again. Either way, McInnes is braced for a long spell without his captain.
“Best case scenario three months, probably worst-case scenario in terms of time would be about four months,” he admitted. “Unfortunately, for us and Lawrence, it’s a significant amount of time out… he was starting to find his stride here and had obviously scored some important goals for us.”
Shankland has four goals in 10 Rangers appearances this season and had come into form with three in his previous two games – decisive strikes away to Aberdeen and Falkirk – before his hamstring went against Motherwell. He lasted only a short spell of Saturday’s 1-0 win at Ibrox before limping off. His replacement, Ryan Naderi, capitalised on a mistake from goalkeeper Alex Paulsen to roll in the only goal.
Rangers created enough chances that the scoreline should have been emphatic. The sense of what might have been with Shankland on the pitch lingered.
“If Lawrence Shankland was on the pitch throughout, he’d be walking away with a couple of goals,” former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Sportsound.
The timing could hardly be worse. Shankland’s absence strips Rangers of their main reference point in attack just as the fixtures begin to pile up and the stakes rise.
Double blow up front
McInnes is not just losing one proven scorer. He is losing two.
Youssef Chermiti, another central striker who “guarantees you goals at Premiership level” in his manager’s words, is already out for a lengthy period after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage against Hibernian last month. Now Shankland joins him on the long-term injury list.
“Having [Shankland] and Youssef out, two guys that guarantee you goals at Premiership level, there’s no doubt it’s a blow for us,” McInnes said.
This is the kind of scenario that tests a squad’s depth and a manager’s nerve. McInnes tried to turn the narrative quickly.
“Their disappointment’s other people’s opportunity as you’ve seen even from Saturday – Ryan getting his goal, Kevin [Kelsy] getting introduced, we’ve got Bojan Miovski, who knows his way about the Scottish Premiership, so it’s not all doom and gloom on that front but it is disappointing news.”
The numbers underline the size of the hole Shankland leaves. Since the start of last season at Hearts, he has averaged a goal every 146 minutes. Since joining Rangers, Naderi’s return stands at a goal every 189 minutes. Bojan Miovski, the North Macedonia international and former Aberdeen favourite, is the only striker at the club whose record stands up to Shankland’s, with a goal every 148 minutes, yet he has struggled to secure a sustained run in the side.
Naderi’s tally of three goals in eight appearances this term is one fewer than Shankland’s four in 10. Last season he scored three times in 11 matches after arriving in January, with two of those coming in an 8-0 Scottish Cup demolition of Queen’s Park. He is a willing runner and McInnes has hinted he could earn a call-up for the Czech Republic, but the question hangs over him: can he match Shankland’s relentless scoring at Premiership level?
Big-money signing Kevin Kelsy is the other obvious candidate to step into the void. The Venezuela forward arrived from Portland Timbers with expectation attached but his Rangers debut against Motherwell brought a harsh introduction. A golden chance to mark the occasion with a goal ended with his shot clipping the crossbar and flying over, composure deserting him at the crucial moment.
Over his past 46 games, Kelsy has 13 goals – roughly one every 190 minutes. The numbers suggest a useful forward rather than an out-and-out finisher. Rangers now need him to accelerate that curve.
“It’s not an ideal scenario,” former Rangers goalkeeper Cammy Bell said on the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast. “They would have wanted to allow a little bit of time for Kelsy to find his feet in Scottish football and at Rangers. He’s not going to get that now.
You’d think Kelsy is going to be the one that will have to step up to the plate and score important goals because you can’t rely on Shankland for now.”
International and domestic fallout
Shankland’s lay-off hits more than Rangers. It also disrupts Scotland’s plans for the autumn.
The striker will miss the upcoming Nations League campaign from late September through mid-November, when new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli leads Scotland into a demanding group against North Macedonia, Slovenia and Switzerland, home and away. Shankland has seven goals in 22 international appearances, including three earlier this year, and had looked well placed to play a central role under the new regime.
At club level, the calendar offers no mercy. After St Mirren, Rangers host Celtic in the League Cup and then travel to Parkhead in the league before the first international break of the season. October brings five scheduled fixtures, November three, and December a gruelling run of six matches. All of that, most likely, without their captain.
The injury picture is mixed elsewhere in the squad. Winger Daisuke Yokota, who came off the bench against Motherwell, will also miss the St Mirren match with a groin problem. There is at least some relief at left-back, where Tuur Rommens has returned to training and could feature later this month.
For now, though, the story is the hole at centre-forward and the scramble to fill it. Shankland was just beginning to look at home in a Rangers shirt, his goals starting to carry weight in tight games. Now he faces weeks of rehab rooms and gym work while others fight for his shirt.
Rangers were “good value” for their win over Motherwell, as the chances created showed, but the margin for error shrinks without their most reliable finisher. The next few months will reveal whether Naderi, Miovski and Kelsy can turn opportunity into authority – or whether Rangers’ season will be defined by the goals of a striker stuck on the treatment table.
