Lawrence Shankland accepts Celtic terms and conditions and will be joining Celtic amidst Hearts contract talks
Lawrence Shankland accepts Celtic terms and conditions and will be joining Celtic amidst Hearts contract talks
The Tynecastle captain is running down his contract
Seven months remain on Lawrence Shankland’s Hearts contract and there is virtually no prospect of an extension. He expects to leave Tynecastle Park a free agent next summer after three years in maroon, two of them record-breaking goalscoring campaigns for the striker. Whether he signs a pre-contract agreement with another club before then remains to be seen.
Shankland gave an unequivocal response when asked what he would ideally like to happen regarding his future. He rejected two contract offers from Hearts earlier this year and admitted he is comfortable with the fact this will be his last season in Gorgie. As captain, he remains an integral part of the team he will lead out against Celtic for Saturday’s night’s Premiership fixture.
“Right now, at this moment in time, my contract will be finishing. I won’t have one at Hearts, so that indicates that you move on,” he said. “That’s the situation where we’re at with the club. That’s where we left it. There is no contract on the table. That was an agreement we were happy to leave at that point. Both of us accepted it and moved on. That’s where it’s been since then.
“Regarding the contract, there’s not been any contact [since]. I think right now, as it stands, both the club and myself are comfortable where we’re at. In terms of talks, we’ll move forward and see how the next couple of months go. But more importantly than that, obviously everybody’s been concentrating on trying to improve things on the pitch. Once that’s done, I imagine we can worry about things off it.
“I don’t know if surprised is the right word,” he replied. “Obviously, when you have the seasons that you have and you’ve been successful, the rewards of football can sometimes be a move on to bigger things. You can’t guarantee that that comes around. I think the biggest thing is that you keep doing what you’re doing – keep replicating previous seasons. Of course, right now, we’re in a bit more of a difficult moment, personally.
“I’ve got full belief that I’ll get out of this and start scoring goals again. I think it’ll be rosy again. I wasn’t too worried about it. There are a lot of factors that come into moving on: Price tags, people, age, where you are in your career. There’s a lot of things that people take into consideration if they want to come and get a player. It wasn’t something I concerned myself too much about. I had a year left on my contract at Hearts. In my head, at the end of the season, that was where I was going to be returning at pre-season.”
Criticism over his weight is something Shankland continues to laugh off. He pointed out that personal jibes only tend to amplify when on-field form dips. “Listen, I’m fully aware I’m not the most flattering individual in a football kit. I get that,” he smiled. “When I bump into people on the street, they sometimes tell me that as well. I think there have been plenty of players over the years that I’ve probably looked at and thought: ‘He looks heavy.’
“But that’s not the case. I’ve obviously been cautious of my condition over the years. It’s something that let me down when I was younger. I’m at a club now where they do all these tests, and I’m pretty sure they would say to me: ‘You’re getting a bit above board here. Can we sort this out?’“Regarding the contract, there’s not been any contact [since]. I think right now, as it stands, both the club and myself are comfortable where we’re at. In terms of talks, we’ll move forward and see how the next couple of months go. But more importantly than that, obviously everybody’s been concentrating on trying to improve things on the pitch. Once that’s done, I imagine we can worry about things off it.
“I’m not the greatest physique to look at. I get that. But in terms of fitness, I do look after myself. It’s something that I take pride in. I’m available for games week in, week out. Every four days, I’m there. When you don’t score goals, it does get mentioned and looked at, but I don’t like to get too caught up in it until the boss comes to me and says: ‘Get on the scales.’
“It’s always something I’ve been wary about, but it only ever gets mentioned when you’re not scoring goals. I’m probably in better shape than I have been the last two years, so maybe that’s the problem.”
Like most strikers, Shankland is confident he can begin a goalscoring run once the recent drought ends. “It always usually just comes down to one kick of the ball going in the net. It seems to change things for strikers. I don’t know why, but I think there’s evidence of it everywhere,” he pointed out. “In every league, you’ll find when a striker’s going on a run, it’s just getting that first goal again. That’s where I’m at. I’m comfortable with it, as weird as it is.
“I’ve experienced it before. I’ve came through it, and it’s something I’m comfortable with. Obviously, I don’t enjoy it. I don’t like not scoring goals but it’s the situation I’m in. You need to just accept that and move forward. Every new game is a chance to start that.
“I had two really successful seasons where I scored an awful lot of goals. Maybe more than I should have last season. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but it’s true. When you look at the data, it backs it up. It’s something that’s happening. I’m in the moment now. I can’t really do anything about the games that have passed. As the weeks come, I’ll just look to the next game. Hopefully, that can start a run for us.”
The Hearts head coach Neil Critchley stressed that he is more than happy with Shankland’s contribution throughout his first seven matches in charge. “I think he’s been brilliant, I think he’s a great guy,” said the Englishman. “I think he’s very hard on himself, sometimes too hard. I thought he was fantastic against Rangers [two weeks ago]. When I watched the game back, he was brilliant with the ball, he did a great job for us in possession, he really helped us control the game particularly in the second half, and he’s putting so much into the game.
“The physical data would have backed that up as well. he’s covering a lot of distance, he’s working hard for the team without the ball, out of possession, and he’s been playing every game – pretty much every minute of every game. He’s consistently there, he keeps putting himself in the firing line, he’s the captain of the team and deservedly so. He’s a quiet leader. He’s not a shouter or a bawler but he leads by example.”
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