OFFICIAL — SFPL chief breaks silence as Rangers Transfer DONE DEAL for Top-class star that Terrifies Celtic has been Announced

Hearts sporting director Graeme Jones says allowing Lawrence Shankland a release clause in his contract was the only route to convincing him to sign last summer.

The clause enabled Rangers to move this summer and secure the striker on a free transfer, despite him having seemingly agreed a three-year deal last year, which left their supporters frustrated.

However, Jones says the situation was ‘straightforward’ – that was the only contract the 30-year-old was prepared to accept last summer.

As a result, the club accepted the calculated gamble of potentially losing him a year later in exchange for his contribution across the campaign. In the end, he netted 20 goals and nearly propelled them to a historic title triumph.

“The situation with Lawrence a year ago was actually quite simple. We as a club had to make a calculation on whether we wanted to keep Lawrence or not and the only way in which we could keep him was with the deal that was agreed in the end,” Jones said.

“The calculation was made up of the fact that if we were very successful as a team and Lawrence was very successful on the park, the risk would be that we would lose him at the end of the first season.

“I accept that that may be difficult to hear but I defy anybody to push back against the fact that it was the correct decision for the club that Derek [McInnes] and I took whereby we had Lawrence for the year, he scored 20-plus goals, his leadership on and off the park was of the highest level and he helped as well as the other players and Derek helped to manoeuvre the difficult path for the team where everybody was expecting us to fall, to falter and to not last the course.

“So I naturally understand the disappointment that our fans will feel that losing their captain and their striker, it was the only deal in which it was going to be possible for us to move forward. I back the decision that we made and I’m thankful for the year that we had with Lawrence but like all teams they evolve past players and I’m excited by the evolution of this team going into the summer of the players that we will bring in and the things that we can achieve going forward.”