Kye Rowles admits it's Hearts squeaky bum time over Shankland future as transfer saga sparks nerves in Aussie star

Kye Rowles insists his only worry about his Hearts pals while he’s away with Australia is that Lawrence Shankland will still be around when he gets back.

The big defender is shooting off to the Asian Games and will miss Tuesday's Premiership clash at Livingston and potentially a handful more at the end of the month depending on how the Socceroos fare in Qatar. Rowles reckons the Jambos will cope without him and Nathaniel Atkinson but he admitted he’ll be nervously keeping tabs on what happens with Shanks.

The red hot hitman scored in his fifth game with his late leveller against Ross County on Saturday to salvage a point after being two down at one stage. And Rowles admitted he’ll be checking his phone in Qatar to make sure no one poachers the Gorgie side’s star man. He said: “Yeah, probably! But that’s none of my business, I’ll try my best to distance myself and focus on the games with Australia.

“I’m very excited. It’s another major tournament and just to be selected for your country is an amazing thing. I wish Cammy (Devlin) was fit enough to come with me and Natty (Atkinson) which is a shame, but it’s still good to go with one of your team-mates every day.

“It’ll be bittersweet but hopefully we can go on a long run. I have full faith in all the boys. We’ve got everyone pretty much coming back now and this little free time in January is a nice healthy block for the boys in the physio room to get back out. The ranks should be stocked up again.”

Rowles has high hopes for the Socceroos in Qatar, with memories still fresh of their march to the World Cup knockout stages there just over a year ago. He said: “Like any tournament, you want to go to win. I think we’ll probably be up there with the countries that are expected