Preston North End and Hull City part of deadline day transfer battle with Rangers | OneFootball

All three sides tried to sign a striker on the final day of the window.

Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland was being fought for by Hull City, Preston North End and Rangers on deadline day, according to reports.

At the moment, and fairly notoriously, number nines are the hardest position on the pitch to fill. There aren't many premier ones about at the moment and even fewer that are readily available.

Those that are potentially up for grabs therefore have plenty of suitors after them, and that was the case with Shankland as a trio of teams battled for him on the final day of the window.

Hull, Preston and Rangers in Lawrence Shankland deadline day transfer battle

The three sides all tried to sign the Scottish international before the window closed at 11pm on August 30th, according to HITC.

The online football outlet claims that Rangers were in talks with Shankland's club, Hearts, up until the final days of the window, but were ultimately put off by their asking price, which was said to be more than £3 million.

Shankland, 29, is out of contract next summer. Given the status of his deal with the Edinburgh-based side, the Gers decided that the £3 million+ fee was too high and they backed off.

The same is also said of Hull and Preston, who HITC also stated to have been in discussions with the Scottish side over Shankland prior to the window closing.

The centre-forward scored 31 times in 47 games in all competitions for Hearts last time out. He has had a slow start to the season off the back of his trip to Germany with Scotland for the Euros, but his 24 efforts that found the back of the net in the Scottish Premiership last time out was enough to convince the three sides to try and get him.

Acun Ilicali fails on Hull striker promise

Acun Ilicali, the Turkish owner of the Tigers, made a very bold claim before the window closed. He said that Hull were going to sign a striker that would show that his side were intent on doing damage in the Championship this season.

Ilicali told Hull Live: "The striker that we're going to bring will show everybody how serious we are in this league and again I thank our fans for believing in us... if we can get him, the whole league will understand how serious we are in trying to write a success story."

Some supporters were concerned that he was over-promising. They signed two wingers on deadline day - Abu Kamara and Mohamed Belloumi - but no centre-forward was brought to the MKM Stadium.

Hull and Preston were right to push for Shankland

Any multi-million pound deal for a player that has less than a year left on their current deal is always going to receive some scrutiny. Sometimes, though, you've got to weigh up the risk of said target entering the free agent market, and spending that money now can be better than saving it down the road if you can ensure that the player will be yours.

Now, neither Championship side was able to get Shankland before the deadline, but they were certainly justified in their attempts.

He is a full international who has just less than 50 goals in his last two full league campaigns. Players like that aren't easy to come by, especially not for a few million quid.

Would Shankland have been a guaranteed success? Who knows? That's the answer to that question, as is the case with any signing.