Under Philippe Clement, Rangers have excelled this season, leading the Ibrox club in every competition.

Surprisingly, under the Belgian, they now have the opportunity to finish first in the Scottish Premiership table for the first time.

The Gers can move up to the top of the table if they defeat Aberdeen on Tuesday, February 6, by a margin of three goals.

Celtic is now in second place.

Clement made his ambitions of more silverware clear in the recent transfer window, with Oscar Cortes,

Fabio Silva and Mohamed Diomande all moving to Ibrox.

But one player who didn’t make the switch was Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland, despite being “heavily linked”

with a move [Football Scotland, 5 February].

No winter Rangers move for Shankland

The stance from Hearts was not surprising at all, with the star player having banged in 21 goals in all competitions this season.

Although he has remained at Tynecastle, Shankland’s announcement to Hearts that he will not be signing a new contract has dealt a

severe blow to his team [The Scottish Sun, 5 February].

Rangers should be able to take advantage of this and capture the Hearts star during the summer transfer window.

Shankland’s contract at Tynecastle is set to expire at the end of May 2025, according to Transfermarkt. Hearts won’t want to lose

him for free at that point.

As a result, the player should be sold this summer or next winter, with the former being considerably more likely because it would free up space for

Hearts to sign a successor.

In other Rangers news, following an Ibrox milestone, Jack Butland texted a teammate three simple words.

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