Why Nottingham Forest should plot a swoop for Lawrence Shankland
According to The Scottish Sun, Nottingham Forest are plotting a January raid on Dundee United for in-form striker Lawrence Shankland, who is currently firing on all cylinders in the Scottish Championship.
The 24-year-old, who earned his first Scotland cap and bagged his first international goal in the 6-0 rout of San Marino last month, has also attracted interest from Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers. (h/t Daily Record)
The same report adds that Forest manager Sabri Lamouchi is keen to bring in another striker to compete with Lewis Grabban for a place up top.
Born in Glasgow, Shankland rose through the youth ranks of fourth-tier outfit Queen’s Park and impressed in the lower divisions before earning a move to the top-flight with Aberdeen in 2013.
Still young and raw, the striker struggled to make such a big jump up to the Scottish Premiership and subsequently found himself loaned out to Dunfermline Athletic, St. Mirren and Greenock Morton, before third-tier outfit Ayr United offered him an escape route.
Shankland, who was instrumental in Ayr’s promotion to the second-tier with an impressive tally of 29 goals in his debut season, followed it up with prolific returns of 34 goals across all competitions in the 2018-19 campaign in the Scottish Championship, which paved the way for a move to promotion hopefuls Dundee United this summer.
The 1-cap Scottish international hasn’t looked back and has gone from strength to strength over the past few months this term, bagging as many as 17 goals in 13 league outings for Dundee United and averaging better than a goal every game.
From an Aberdeen outcast to a Scotland international- Shankland’s rise in his homeland has been an absolute roller-coaster ride. And a move north of the border looks in the offing.
To put things into perspective, Lawrence Shankland has been scoring goals for fun in the Scottish Championship and Nottingham Forest are well within their rights to complete deal a for the in-form striker in January in a bid to add some extra firepower to their attack.
Verdict
Recalling academy star Tyler Walker from his loan spell at Lincoln City might be a realistic option for Lamouchi but again, it is hard to ignore the eye-watering returns of Shankland.
Notwithstanding the fact that there is a lot of difference between the Scottish second-tier and the EFL Championship, both in terms of quality and intensity, Shankland seems to have taken significant strides towards fulfilling his potential at Dundee United.
To that end, Nottingham Forest would bag a real bargain with a move for the 24-year-old in January.
More Nottingham Forest News
- Why Dwight Gayle to Nottingham Forest would be quite a coup
- Why Nottingham Forest should avoid signing Wes Morgan next summer
- Why Nottingham Forest must complete a January swoop for Hugo Cuypers
All in all, Shankland looks more than ready to take the next big step in his career. If he manages to translate his goalscoring form south of the border, Nottingham Forest could well outwit their rivals in the race for promotion this season.