Lawrence Shankland: Rangers captain expected to be out for three to four months with hamstring tear, confirms Derek McInnes | Football News
Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland will be out for up to four months, with the striker waiting to discover if he requires surgery.
Derek McInnes confirmed his 31-year-old skipper has suffered a recurrence of the injury when both were at Hearts last season, which ruled him out for nine weeks.
Shankland, who has scored four goals in 10 Rangers appearances so far this season, was forced off early in Saturday’s 1-0 home league win over Motherwell. His replacement Ryan Naderi scored the game’s only goal.
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Highlights from the Scottish Premiership match between Rangers and Motherwell
Ahead of the Premiership clash with St Mirren at Ibrox on Wednesday night, McInnes said: “He’s had his scan with confirmation that he’s had a tear.
“It’s a 2C tear and similar to the one he did previously at Hearts in January.
“And he’s actually in London now, he’s getting an ultrasound scan, a follow-up scan, which is just to determine whether, with the specialist, he has surgery or whether he’ll just let it heal naturally like he did the last time.
“We will probably have a better idea on the aftermath of that scan and discussion with specialists just how long the injury is going to be.
Ryan Naderi came on to replace the Rangers captain
“My little knowledge I have of it is that if he has the surgery then he might be an extra three or four weeks.
“But if he has a surgery, then it lessens a risk of it maybe happening again, but, again, all these things will be confirmed probably in the next 48 hours or so, but unfortunately for us and Lawrence, it’s a significant amount of time out.
“I think best-case scenario, three months, probably worst-case scenario in terms of time about four months. But I think the specialist appointment in London will maybe shed a bit of light on that and get a bit more clarity.”
Can Rangers cope without Shankland?
Shankland has scored four goals for Rangers this season
Naderi came on to score the only goal against the Steelmen and Rangers did bring in £9m striker Kevin Kelsy on Deadline Day, so you could argue it is not an area they are short in.
But Shankland’s injury comes after they had already lost forward Youssef Chermiti for a “significant period” with an ACL injury.
There is also Bojan Miovski, but he has struggled to get a consistent run since his move to Ibrox from Girona last summer.
Kevin Kelsy joined Rangers on Deadline Day
He scored 13 in all competitions in his first season at Ibrox, averaging a goal every 142 minutes. Naderi’s average for Rangers last season was a goal every 203 minutes.
Compare that to Shankland’s average under McInnes at Hearts last season – that was a goal every 86.5 minutes.
Bojan Miovski has struggled for game time at Rangers
McInnes added: “We just need to support him as we do with all our injured players, but having him and Youssef out, guys who guarantee you goals at Premiership level, there’s no doubt it’s a blow for us.
“But their disappointments are other people’s opportunities as you’ve seen, even from Saturday, Ryan getting his goal and Kevin [Kelsy] getting introduced.
“We have Bojan Miovski, who knows his way about the Premiership as well, so it’s not all doom and gloom on that front, but it is disappointing news.”
