Lawrence Shankland’s hat-trick in front of Nicky Hammond has done wonders for him if he’s eyeing up a move to Parkhead.
If you were to ask supporters several months ago what they thought of signing Shankland, not many would’ve backed the idea. After all, at that point he was only scoring a few goals here and there for United in a decent start to his Tannadice career.
But he simply hasn’t stopped since. He’s now managed to bag hat-tricks in front of two separate Celtic scouts. He scored three under the watchful eye of Tosh McKinlay against Morton (Daily Record), but Saturday’s 4-1 mauling of Partick Thistle was even more important.
His three goals equalled a perfect hat-trick. Added to that, it was with Celtic’s Head of Football Operations Nick Hammond in attendance (Scottish Sun). That means he’s scored six times in front of our own scouts. That alone is big for him.
However, perhaps it’s the slow turn in fan opinion that will help him the most. As mentioned before, not many would’ve been for the Shankland signing. Whilst there still remains plenty of negative reaction to the current speculation, there are certainly a lot more positive reviews coming his way from the Celtic support.
Shankland’s goals are demanding a rethink
Goals change opinions, and that’s what’s happening with Shankland. If his eyes are set on a move to Parkhead, things are looking up for him as opposed to downward.
The seemingly inevitable addition of Patryk Klimala could perhaps make it look as though Shankland won’t be on our radar (Glasgow Times). However, you would have to question Hammond’s attendance at United’s win over Partick if we weren’t still interested.
Shankland also represents a cheaper option than our other striker possibilities. For example, Andraz Sporar would apparently cost Celtic no less than £5million (Sportrevue). Even though Robbie Neilson has claimed that United likely won’t get their asking price for Shankland, it won’t be anywhere near those figures (Evening Telegraph).
Of course, all of this could be blown out of the window if United want silly-money. Celtic have always been hesitant to spend too highly on Scottish talent. Then again, considering the high level of interest in Shankland, it could be one we have to move quickly on.
But if you’re Shankland, you’re just delighted that you’re getting spoken about seriously now. No longer are your goals just being brushed off as Championship goals. Even though the question mark remains about his ability to step up into the Premiership, bagging 24 goals in 24 appearances is an incredible tally (Transfermarkt). That’s not even mentioning his goal for Scotland against San Marino either.
He’s clearly impressing the right people. It’s going to be intriguing to see where this transfer saga goes next.
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