I CAN THINK of several reasons why Celtic shouldn’t sign Lawrence Shankland – the main one being he is not Celtic class.
No disrespect to the Scotland international striker, but I have never been convinced he possesses the quality the champions require.
I note the bookies have installed the 29-year-old Hearts captain as favourite for the role if Kyogo Furuhashi leaves Parkhead for Manchester City.
And let’s hope that is a gigantic IF.
Shankland has been touted several times for the Hoops and, admittedly, his goal record at Tynecastle is impressive. Fans of the Edinburgh club won’t agree, but I insist it is easier to rack them up while wearing a maroon jersey than a green and white shirt.
CAPITAL CAPERS…Lawrence Shankland in action against Hoops duo Matt O’Riley and Callum McGregor at Tynecastle on May 7 2023 when Celtic won 2-0 to seal their second successive title.
I recall the story of a consistent marksman brought to Parkhead by the great Jock Stein. The guy in question had scored with praiseworthy regularity for his three previous clubs, but hit a brick wall at Celtic. He scored one, a tap-in even my missus, wearing a blindfold, couldn’t have missed.
Long after the footballer in question had retired, I met him at a Scottish Player of the Year function. We got chatting at the bar – surprise! surprise! – and I had to ask him why the goals had dried up in the east end of Glasgow.
He was quite candid – or maybe even as lucid as a newt – when he answered: “At my other teams, I could get past a defender and I knew I would only have the keeper to beat.
“At Celtic, I could lose a defender and there was another bloody opponent between me and the goal. Sometimes another defender behind him. I couldn’t cope with that. I wanted to repay Big Jock because he paid a few quid for me, but, try as I might, I just couldn’t get the goals to flow.”
I won’t embarrass the individual by naming him, but, suffice to say, his participation at Parkhead wasn’t a lengthy engagement and he moved on about a year later.
I am not inferring for a moment that Shankland would experience the same fate as the erstwhile Celt, but I repeat what I said earlier; he will score more goals for Hearts than he ever could at Celtic.
RED FOR DANGER…Bojan Miovski sidesteps Maik Nawrocki to sweep the ball past Joe Hart to give Aberdeen the lead in the 1-1 draw at Pittodrie in February. Liam Scales and Callum McGregor look on.
If Brendan Rodgers was interested in a player with similar attributes to the much-travelled Gorgie performer he might as well have held onto Oh Hyeon-gyu who, at least, is six years younger and still has the potential to improve.
In any case, I don’t envisage the Hoops gaffer ever thinking it is a good idea to pair another big man with Adam Idah up front.
Kyogo was a perfect foil. Plus if Rodgers started with the Japanese man leading the attack, he would be safe in the knowledge he had it within his scope to change the entire dynamic of a game by introducing Idah. That would not be a substitution merely to change personnel.
If the champions had prior knowledge that a bid from Pep Guardiola – or any other envious opponent – was in the wind for Kyogo, I would say the player who would have been more suited to replace the fans’ favourite would have been Aberdeen’s Bojan Miovski.
The intelligent Macedonian international’s style is similar to that of Kyogo, although certainly not identical. However, his movement is clever as he seeks out vulnerable areas in the opposition rearguard.
However, that ship has sailed with the elusive frontman, who had a fair measure of success sticking the ball in the Celtic net in his two years at Pittodrie, heading for Girona following his £6.5million switch to Spain just last week.
A move for the inventive Miovski would have made sense.
I can’t say the same over speculation surrounding Shankland.
ALEX GORDON
