Image source, SNSImage caption, Lawrence Shankland handed the Rangers armband to Dan Neil on Saturday
Rangers captain Lawrence Shankland will be out for up to four months because of a hamstring tear and the forward may need surgery.
Speaking before Wednesday's Scottish Premiership visit of St Mirren, manager Derek McInnes confirmed his 31-year-old skipper had suffered a recurrence of the injury when both were at Hearts last season.
Shankland has scored four goals in 10 Rangers appearances but came off early in Saturday's 1-0 home league win over Motherwell. His replacement, Ryan Naderi, scored the game's only goal.
"He's had a tear, it's a 2cm tear in his hamstring so similar, very similar to the one he did previously at Hearts in January," McInnes said.
"He's actually in London now, he's getting an ultrasound scan, a follow-up scan which is just to determine with the specialist whether he has surgery or whether we just let that heal naturally, as it did the last time.
"If he has the surgery then he might be an extra three or four weeks but if he has the surgery then it lessens the risk of maybe it happening again. All those these things will be confirmed probably in the next 48 hours or so.
"Unfortunately, for us and Lawrence, it's a significant amount of time out and we just need to support him, as we do with all our injured players."
As well as Premiership and League Cup fixtures, the striker will be unavailable for Scotland's Nations League matches from the end of September through mid-November.
New head coach Sebastien Pocognoli's side meet North Macedonia, Slovenia and Switzerland home and away this autumn. Shankland has scored seven goals in 22 international appearances, including three earlier this year.
After St Mirren, Rangers face Celtic at home in the League Cup then the same opponent away in the league before the first of this season's international breaks.
The Ibrox side have five games scheduled for October, three in November and six in December.
In early January, Shankland came off in extra time of Hearts' Scottish Cup defeat by Falkirk, who won the tie on penalties. The striker returned in mid-March.
Winger Daisuke Yokota, who came on as a substitute against Motherwell, will also miss Rangers' match with St Mirren because of a groin injury but left-back Tuur Rommens is back in training and could return later this month.
Image caption, Rangers scored just once from an expected goals rating of 4.28 in Saturday's win over Motherwell
After three goals in his previous two games - decisive contributions in wins at Aberdeen and Falkirk - prior to suffering his hamstring injury against Motherwell, Shankland's absence comes at a particularly bad time for him and for Rangers.
With fellow striker Youssef Chermiti expected to be out for a lengthy period after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage against Hibernian last month, McInnes is now left without his two leading strikers.
His side were good value for their win over Motherwell, but with the number of chances they created it should have been more comfortable.
"If Lawrence Shankland was on the pitch throughout, he'd be walking away with a couple of goals," former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday said on BBC Sportsound.
Naderi scored the only goal of the game on Saturday, capitalising on a blunder from Motherwell goalkeeper Alex Paulsen to roll the ball into an empty net.
The big striker is a willing worker but can he deliver the sort of scoring numbers Shankland has consistently produced in the Premiership?
Naderi scored three goals in his 11 games last season after joining Rangers in January, two of which came in the 8-0 Scottish Cup rout of lower-league Queen's Park.
The German has scored three in eight appearances this term - one fewer than Shankland's four goals in 10 games.
Since joining Rangers, he has averaged a goal every 189 minutes. That figure is 146 minutes for Shankland, stretching back to the start of last season for Hearts.
The only striker on Rangers' books whose stats compare favourably with Shankland is Bojan Miovski, who averages a goal every 148 minutes. However, the former Aberdeen favourite has found it difficult to get a consistent run in the side.
Big-money signing Kevin Kelsy will come into the mix following his arrival from Portland Timbers.
The Venezuelan had a golden opportunity to announce himself on his debut against Motherwell but showed little composure as his shot clipped the crossbar on its way out.
Of course, it is far too early to rush to judgement on Kelsy's ability to fill the Shankland void, but 13 goals in his past 46 games - averaging one every 190 minutes - would suggest the Ibrox club have not signed an out-and-out scorer.
"It's not an ideal scenario," former Rangers goalkeeper Cammy Bell said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
"They would have wanted to allow a little bit of time for Kelsy to find his feet in Scottish football and at Rangers. He's not going to get that now.
"You'd think Kelsy is going to be the one that will have to step up to the plate and score important goals because you can't rely on Shankland for now."
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