Lawrence Shankland expected to be out for up to four months after hamstring tear

Derek McInnes has revealed he expects Rangers skipper Lawrence Shankland to be out for three to four months dependent on treatment for his hamstring tear.

The Gers striker had to come off after pulling up early in the William Hill Premiership win over Motherwell at Ibrox on Saturday.

It was a huge blow for the Light Blues who already have Portuguese striker Youssef Chermiti out long term with an ACL injury, leaving Ryan Naderi, who scored the winner off the bench against Well, new signing Kevin Kelsy and fringe player Bojan Miovski, as their three remaining strikers.

Ahead of the Premiership clash with St Mirren at Ibrox on Wednesday night, McInnes said: “He’s had his scan with confirmation that he’s had a tear.

“It’s a 2c tear and similar to the one he did previously at Hearts in January.

“And he’s actually in London now, he’s getting an ultrasound scan, a follow-up scan, which is just to determine whether, with the specialist, he has surgery or whether he’ll just let it heal naturally like he did the last time.

“We will probably have a better idea on the aftermath of that scan and discussion with specialists just how long the injury is going to be.

“My little knowledge I have of it is that if he has the surgery then he might be an extra three or four weeks.

“But if he has a surgery, then it lessens a risk of it maybe happening again, but, again, all these things will be confirmed probably in the next 48 hours or so, but unfortunately for us and Lawrence, it’s a significant amount of time out.

“I think best case scenario, three months, probably worst-case scenario in terms of time about four months. But I think the specialist appointment today in London will maybe shed a bit of light on that and get a bit more clarity.

“And we just need to support him as we do with all our injured players, but having him and Youssef out, guys who guarantee you goals at Premiership level, there’s no doubt it’s a blow for us.

“But their disappointments are other people’s opportunities as you’ve seen, even from Saturday, Ryan getting his goal and Kevin getting introduced.

“We have Bojan Miovski, who knows his way about the Premiership as well, so it’s not all doom and gloom on that front, but it is disappointing news.”