Lawrence Shankland responds to Hearts transfer noise as he reveals when he'll know it's serious

With his 29th birthday approaching this summer, Lawrence Shankland knows he’s nearing his Hearts sell-by date.

The Tynecastle talisman has just 12 more months left on his Gorgie deal so if he can’t be persuaded to sign on again, Jambos chiefs may be left with no other option but to stick their star striker in the shop window and cash in. But Shankland isn’t letting the situation get to him, certainly not when there’s no guarantees he’ll get the kind of offers that would tempt him to leave a club where he’s plundered goals like a contestant filling his trolly on Supermarket Sweep.

What’s of more concern to the Scotland ace is making sure that if he does hang around next season, he and his team-mates finally stack the capital shelves with silverware. Shanks addressed the never-ending speculation over his Jambos future as he was named on the shortlist for PFA Scotland’s Player of the Year.

“It’s part of the game,” he said. “The transfer market’s there for everybody to get excited and talk, I just leave it at that. It’s just outside noise. It doesn’t affect me at all until someone comes knocking on my door and says, ‘This is the position you’re in’.

“Until that point I don’t take any interest in it. I suppose it’s flattering, it’s a bit of recognition that you’re doing your job and that’s all I see it as.

“Most of what’s there is is just talk. But we’ll see what happens, I’ve a year left on my contract at Hearts. We’ll see if there’s a decision to be made in the summer. There’s no guarantees in football that someone’s going to say ‘right we’re signing you’. It doesn’t work like that.

"I’m aware at the age I am that some clubs don’t want to sign older players because there’s no real sell-on value, so it’ll need to someone who