If catching Celtic and Rangers is Hearts aim then I have one question that £10m might not even answer - Ryan Stevenson

Lawrence Shankland is quite rightly bang in the running to be named PFA Scotland Player of the Year.

It’s his goals and his performances that have led Hearts to third place in the Premiership, which is where they will finish. That final position brings them automatic group-stage football in Europe. With that comes a cash injection of £5million. Shankland has played the biggest part in earning it. So why not lash a chunk back to him and get him to sign that new contract?

I’ve been interested to read some of the commentary in recent days about the prospect of the money helping Hearts to get closer to Celtic and Rangers. Well I’ll ask one question. How much would it cost to replace Lawrence’s influence and goals? You could take the whole £5m and it would not get near it. In fact, you could spend £10m and maybe still not get what Lawrence gives you.

So forget about who to bring in next. Concentrate on keeping the main man. To get him tied down on that long-term deal would be the biggest deal they could do this summer. If they do have to pay him a bit extra, well so what? Every now and again, there are players that you just need to go that extra mile for. He is the club captain, he is the talisman and I’d be happy to go to £10,000 or £12,000 per week. That’d be big for Hearts.

I’d imagine there are a number of boys on £4,000-£6,000 a week, so I think if you gave him £12,000 with add-ons with scoring bonuses and appearances, that could work. To be honest, offer a decent wage with a £500,000 signing-on fee and that’s job done. Half a million straight into your account. You are skipping all the way to the bank with that.

It sounds a lot, but it’s only 10 per cent of what they are going to get for group-stage qualification. Put