Lawrence Shankland has drawn plenty of attention in the last few months for his performances in the Scottish lower tier. The striker scored goals for fun with Ayr United, and now he has continued with the same form at Dundee United as well. The Scotsman has been called up for the national team, and reports emerged a few weeks back that Celtic scouts were present in action to see him against Greenock Morton where he bagged a hattrick.
We think that Celtic wouldn’t be able to get him in January as Dundee are going to fight for promotion. Shankland’s manager has also revealed (Evening Telegraph) that they are under no pressure to sell before next summer. However, the Hoops should definitely consider making a move for him in the summer.
McLean on Shankland
Scotland international and Norwich midfielder Kenny McLean recently has drawn parallels between Shankland and Teemu Pukki, and he believes that the 24-year-old’s abilities are limitless. McLean was teammates with Shankland for a while when both of them were at Aberdeen. McLean recently said (Daily Record), ”He didn’t play much [at Aberdeen], he had a couple of appearances here and there but scored maybe 30 goals in the Under-20s at the time. It’s just that habit of hitting the net; he’s got that habit.
”People speak about Teemu Pukki when he was in Scotland, and now he’s banging goals in the Premier League. So for a striker, it’s sometimes hard to gauge how far they can go, but if he continues to score, then there’s no limits for him really.”
In terms of goals, Shankland can score all kind of them, and as McLean mentioned, he is just a natural scorer who comes alive in the final third. Same with Pukki as well as he has an undaunting persona. However, give him a little bit of space to use his shooting boots, and he will punish the opposition more often than not.
Why should Celtic go for a striker?
We think that Celtic should keep tabs on Shankland and try to sign him in the summer of 2020. The striker already has 15 goals to his name in all competitions this season. Odsonne Edouard is likely to attract interest from some of the top clubs in the future.
Vakoun Issouf Bayo is yet to hit the ground running, and the jury is still out on whether Leigh Griffiths will be back to his former best after his personal issues and injury troubles. Therefore Celtic will need a striker by next summer and Shankland could be a plausible option.
