Rangers striker Lawrence Shankland is certain to miss at least two Old Firm fixtures, if not three. The experienced frontman hobbled out of Rangers' game with Motherwell over the weekend with a hamstring. And while there is no news on the results of his scans, it appears as though bad news is feared.
The Gers have already lost Youssef Chermiti for the season after he suffered a serious knee injury, and now their next most trusted forward appears to be set for a long spell on the sidelines.
According to Record Sport, Rangers fear Shankland may not play again this year, so even if the scan results are not as bad as feared, he will logically miss the next two Old Firm fixtures, which take place across the next two weekends.
Rangers host Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-finals this weekend, and Celtic will be the hosts for the first Premiership derby of the season next weekend.
If Shankland is to miss out until the end of the year, it will place the third Old Firm of the season under doubt, which is the Ibrox league clash on January 3.
Rangers fans will need no reminding that hamstring injuries are particularly difficult to return from, especially high grade tears, many of which require surgery. The report adds that the scan results have not been confirmed yet, with Derek McInnes confirming over the weekend that the results would likely come on Monday. But it's not unusual for results to require a second and third opinion, which can delay the communication of said results, and indeed the decision over the treatment path.
What McInnes has said
"It looks quite significant," McInnes told BBC Scotland after the Motherwell game. It's a similar injury we think that he had at Hearts last January.
"We'll get the scan done on Monday and see how it looks then rather than speculating. It's disappointing because he was leading the line and scoring a few goals in the last couple of games. There were more positives than negatives from today, but that was a negative."
Rangers will likely now rely on Ryan Naderi, who scored over the weekend, while they also have Kevin Kelsy and the unfavoured Bojan Miovski is also an option.
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