One Up Top Or Two? The Striker Question That Will Define Derek McInnes’s Rangers Revolution

Lawrence Shankland is already through the door. The contract is signed, the announcement video has been shared thousands of times across social media, and the Rangers support has already begun dreaming about what a fully fit, fully motivated Shankland can do in a blue shirt with a manager who knows him better than almost anyone in Scottish football.

But one striker does not make a complete attacking unit. And as Derek McInnes continues to shape his Rangers squad for the 2026–27 Scottish Premiership campaign, the question of who partners Shankland — or whether anyone partners him at all — is one of the most fascinating and consequential tactical puzzles the new manager faces this summer.

The names being circulated are interesting. Ryan Naderi. Bojan Miovski. Youssef Chermiti. Three very different strikers with three very different profiles, three very different career trajectories, and three very different sets of qualities that would each change the way Rangers play in a subtly but significantly different manner. Add Shankland to the mix and the combinations become even more intriguing — because the tactical framework McInnes chooses to deploy at Ibrox will be shaped, more than anything else, by the strikers he has available and the specific chemistry between them.

So who will lead the line for Rangers next season? And will McInnes play with one up top or two? Let us work through it properly.

Before any discussion of individual strikers makes sense, you need to understand how Derek McInnes actually wants his teams to play — because his tactical preferences will ultimately determine which striker profile fits his system and which does not.

McInnes is not a rigid ideologue. He is not a manager who has one system and forces every player to fit within it regardless of the personnel available. His career has demonstrated genuine tactical flexibility — an ability to adapt his approach based on the players at his disposal and the specific demands of the games he is preparing for.

At Aberdeen, McInnes typically worked with a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 depending on the opposition and the personnel available. He was pragmatic when he needed to be, compact and hard to beat against the bigger clubs, but capable of being expansive and attack-minded when the matchup suited a more aggressive approach. The common thread across all of his best Aberdeen teams was organisation, intensity, and a clarity of roles that allowed players to perform consistently without uncertainty about their responsibilities.

At Hearts, the system evolved further. McInnes worked primarily with a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, using Shankland as a central focal point with attacking midfielders and wide players providing the creative support around him. The key to Hearts’ near-title-winning season was the balance between defensive solidity — Cammy Devlin providing the engine and the intensity in midfield — and attacking threat, with Shankland as the consistent goal threat that everything else was built around.

The question at Rangers is whether McInnes has the personnel to use Shankland in the same way he used him at Hearts — as the lone striker in a system that provides him with quality service and creative support — or whether the squad’s attacking depth and the specific demands of competing against Celtic across a full season require a different approach, potentially including a second striker who can operate alongside Shankland in a more direct, physically imposing 4-4-2

Any discussion of Rangers’ striker situation in 2026–27 begins and ends with Lawrence Shankland, because he is the player around whom McInnes is constructing his entire attacking plan.

Shankland is, at his best, one of the most complete centre-forwards in Scottish football. His goalscoring record speaks for itself — top scorer in the Scottish Premiership on multiple occasions, consistently productive across multiple managers and multiple tactical systems, reliable in the biggest games and on the biggest occasions. But Shankland is more than just a goalscorer. He is a leader, a presence, a player whose attitude and professionalism set standards for everyone around him.

McInnes knows this better than anyone. He has worked with Shankland at two previous clubs and has spoken extensively about the transformation he witnessed in the striker when he arrived at Hearts last season — the confidence, the maturity, the way the other players in the dressing room looked up to him as a figure of authority and experience. Shankland is not just Rangers’ best striker. He is one of the most important figures in the dressing room McInnes is trying to build.

The tactical question is how to get the absolute best out of him. At Hearts, Shankland thrived as the lone striker — a focal point who attracted defensive attention and created space for the players around him, while also finding the net consistently himself. In that role, he scored goals from all areas of the pitch, demonstrated an ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play, and showed the kind of intelligent movement that makes life genuinely difficult for centre-backs who face him week after week.

But Shankland also has qualities that suit a two-striker system. His ability to combine with a physical partner — to use his technical quality and movement alongside a more direct, powerful forward — is something that has been discussed but never fully explored at club level. The right partner could unlock an even more prolific version of Shankland, relieving him of some of the defensive responsibility that comes with being the lone striker and allowing him to focus more purely on goalscoring. That is where the other names on this list become genuinely relevant.

Ryan Naderi is a name that has been circulating in connection with Rangers for some time, and the reasons why McInnes might be interested are easy to understand once you look at what the Swedish-Iranian striker actually brings to the table.

Naderi is, fundamentally, a completely different kind of striker from Shankland. Where Shankland is technically refined, intelligent in his movement, and primarily a goalscorer who thrives on service and timing, Naderi is physical, powerful, direct, and capable of winning aerial duels and holding the ball up in a way that creates space for others. He is the kind of striker that defenders hate facing not because of his technical quality but because of his physicality and his willingness to make life uncomfortable for everyone in his vicinity.

In a two-striker system, the Shankland-Naderi combination would be genuinely intriguing. Naderi’s aerial presence and physical dominance would attract defenders’ attention and create pockets of space for Shankland to exploit. Shankland’s intelligent movement and clinical finishing would then punish the space that Naderi’s presence creates. It is a classic combination — the powerful target man and the clever finisher — that has worked at every level of football because it presents defenders with a choice they cannot comfortably make.

There are also practical considerations that make Naderi an attractive option for Rangers. His profile — physically dominant, able to operate in tight spaces, capable of contributing defensive work from the front — suits the kind of pressing system that McInnes has used at his previous clubs. A striker who presses intelligently and contributes to the team’s defensive shape out of possession is considerably more valuable in a McInnes system than one who simply waits for the ball in the final third.

The question marks around Naderi relate primarily to his consistency and his ability to maintain the physical standards required across a full Scottish Premiership season and European campaign. Physical strikers are, by their nature, susceptible to the wear and tear that comes with that style of play. If Naderi can stay fit and maintain his level, he could be exactly the foil that unlocks the best of Shankland. If injuries or inconsistency disrupt his contribution, the value of the partnership falls away quickl

Of all the names being discussed in connection with Rangers’ striker position, Bojan Miovski is the one with the most established and most relevant track record — and the one whose signing, if it could be completed, would immediately generate the greatest excitement among the Rangers support.

Miovski spent two seasons at Aberdeen under various managers and produced goalscoring numbers that were genuinely remarkable for a striker in the Scottish Premiership. The North Macedonian international arrived at Pittodrie as a relative unknown and left as one of the most highly regarded strikers in Scottish football — a player whose combination of technical quality, movement, and clinical finishing drew comparisons with some of the better forwards to have graced the league in recent years.

His subsequent moves have taken him through different environments and different leagues, but the qualities that made him so effective at Aberdeen have never disappeared. Miovski is a modern centre-forward in the truest sense — capable of pressing from the front, of dropping deep to link play, of running in behind defensive lines, and of converting chances with the kind of composure that only genuinely elite finishers possess.

The fit with McInnes’s system is potentially excellent. Miovski’s ability to operate as either the primary striker or in a support role alongside a more physical partner gives the manager tactical options that a less versatile striker would not provide. He could play as the lone striker in a 4-3-3, doing everything that Shankland currently does, or he could play alongside Shankland in a two-striker system where his movement and technical quality complement rather than duplicate the existing Rangers captain’s qualities.

The practical challenge is availability and cost. Miovski is not a free agent or a loan option. Signing him permanently would require a transfer fee that, while manageable with the Raskin money in the bank, still represents a significant commitment from a club that has multiple other positions to address this summer. The competition for his signature from other clubs — both in Scotland and further afield — also complicates the picture.

But if the numbers can be made to work, Miovski at Rangers is a prospect that genuinely excites. A Shankland-Miovski attacking partnership, with the creative support of Lewis Ferguson potentially operating behind them, would give McInnes one of the most dangerous and technically accomplished forward lines that Rangers have fielded in recent years.

The fourth name on this list is the most speculative and the most intriguing — and potentially the most exciting of all, precisely because of how much upside the signing of Youssef Chermiti could represent if everything goes right.

Chermiti is a 21-year-old Portuguese-Tunisian striker who came through the Sporting Lisbon academy before making a move to Everton, where he has shown flashes of genuine brilliance alongside the inconsistency that is entirely normal for a young striker still learning his trade at the top level. He is tall, powerful, quick for his size, and has a natural instinct for goal that scouts at the highest level of the game have been monitoring with considerable interest.

The appeal of Chermiti for Rangers is a specific one — he is a young striker who needs competitive game time, who has not yet been able to establish himself as a regular first-team player at Premier League level, and who could be available on loan from Everton at a cost that is well within Rangers’ budget for the summer.

At 21, Chermiti is at exactly the stage of his development where a season of consistent, high-level game time — in a winning environment, under a manager who demands high standards, in a league that will challenge him physically and technically — could be transformative. The Scottish Premiership is exactly the right level for a player of his age and stage. It is competitive enough to genuinely test him, but manageable enough that he can play with confidence and develop his game without the crushing pressure of Premier League survival hanging over him.

The risk, of course, is inconsistency. Chermiti is talented but raw. He can go from world-class in one game to anonymous in the next — a pattern that is completely normal for a 21-year-old striker but that can be frustrating for a manager trying to build consistency across a title-challenging season. McInnes would need to manage Chermiti carefully, protecting him from unrealistic expectations while simultaneously demanding the standards that Rangers require.

If Chermiti develops as his talent suggests he is capable of developing, Rangers could have one of the most exciting young strikers in Scottish football on their hands — a player who not only contributes to their title challenge this season but becomes a genuinely valuable asset in the years ahead.

Having assessed all four strikers individually, the fundamental question remains — will McInnes play with one striker or two at Rangers?

The answer, in all likelihood, is both — depending on the opposition, the specific demands of each game, and the personnel available at any given moment. The best managers do not commit rigidly to one system across a full season. They build squads with the flexibility to shift between formations and adapt their approach based on what each individual game requires.

Against Celtic in the Old Firm games — the matches that will ultimately determine whether Rangers win the title — McInnes may prefer the solidity and defensive security of a 4-3-3 with Shankland as the lone striker, focusing on not conceding while using Shankland’s quality to punish Celtic on the counter-attack. Against smaller clubs that sit deep and invite Rangers onto them, a 4-4-2 with two strikers pressing high and stretching the defensive shape could be far more effective.

The key is having the right personnel to make both systems work. Shankland in a 4-3-3 is proven and effective. Shankland alongside a physical partner like Naderi or a technical partner like Miovski in a 4-4-2 is an exciting prospect. And the potential wild card of Chermiti — young, hungry, and capable of producing something special when given the right opportunity — adds a dimension that keeps opponents guessing.

What is clear is that McInnes is building a squad with genuine attacking depth and genuine tactical flexibility. The striker question does not have a single correct answer. It has multiple possible answers, each of which produces a different kind of Rangers team — and the manager’s skill will lie in choosing the right answer for the right moment.

Rangers’ title challenge next season will be built on defensive solidity, midfield intensity, and the goals of Lawrence Shankland. But who joins Shankland in the attack — and in what formation — could be the difference between a genuine title challenge and another season of falling just short.

The decision belongs to Derek McInnes. And based on everything he has done so far this summer, he looks like a manager who knows exactly how to make it.