Rangers and Celtic have been heavily linked with Ayr United’s Lawrence Shankland during the past few weeks.
But now it looks like both the Glasgow sides are set to miss out on his as he is expected to move to England during the summer.
Lawrence Shankland joined Aberdeen in 2013 and after spending a number of seasons out on loan, the centre-forward was eventually released by the SPFL club and he ended up joining Ayr United as a free agent.
During the past season, Lawrence Shankland was on fire for Ayr scoring 24 goals in just 31 games in the Championship but the player has refused to sign a new deal with the club.
His deal expired at the end of May meaning he is now a free agent and both the Old Firm clubs have shown an inclination to sign him.
Now though, reports are claiming that Sunderland are keen to bring him on board and the League One side are favourites to sign him during the summer.
Sunderland had almost secured a move to the Championship next season but they ended up losing their playoff final to Charlton which means they are stuck in the third tier of English football for one more season.
But Jack Ross has made it clear that the club will go all out to secure promotion to the Championship next campaign and they are planning to bring in some heavy firepower – with Lawrence Shankland being the first of them.
If Lawrence Shankland does end up joining Sunderland then surely it will be a huge blow for both Celtic and Rangers who are said to be looking at bringing in a centre-forward during the summer.
But there might be one way that the Glasgow outfits can still convince Shankland to stay in Scotland.
Some experts feel that the idea of fighting for multiple trophies might change the 23-year-old’s mind and in turn prevent him from moving to the Stadium of Lights.
