Hearts prepare for Lawrence Shankland's exit - but the club are willing to reopen contract talks

Hearts officials are willing to reopen contract talks to keep captain Lawrence Shankland at Tynecastle Park, but they are already preparing for the striker’s exit come the end of the season. Shankland is in the final eight months of his three-year deal and earlier this year rejected two offers to sign a lucrative new agreement with the Edinburgh club.

Andrew McKinlay, the Hearts chief executive, stressed that he would happily restart discussions with Shankland and his representatives in an effort to secure the player’s future. However, as things stand, he is expecting the 29-year-old to leave on freedom of contract and join a new club for next season.

McKinlay stressed that Hearts cannot afford to destroy their wage structure in order to keep one player. Shankland scored 28 goals in season 2022/23 after arriving in Gorgie from the Belgian club Beershot. In 2023/24, he struck 31 times in maroon, plus another two in Scotland colours. He has found the net once in 11 club appearances so far this season.

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Hearts are aware of the forward’s influence on their team and would get round the table to negotiate a new deal if Shankland was willing. They put two contract offers to the forward earlier this year which are no longer on the table after being refused.

“That particular [most-recent] offer was rejected. As a lawyer, by definition, if it's rejected it doesn't exist,” said McKinlay. “I think my view on that one is: If Lawrence or his advisors want to reopen talks, we're happy to have a chat with them. My perception, based on all the discussions we've had, based on the lack of interest that there's been, is that Lawrence will probably see out his contract. We've never been told that, no one has ever said that. That, to me, seems to be the obvious conclusion of where we're heading towards.”

Hearts feel that the increased salary they offered Shankland represented a good deal. “They know the numbers that were there before,” added McKinlay. “We are absolutely happy to have discussions. Why wouldn't we be? Lawrence has had two magnificent seasons. He’s had a difficult start to this season, but I've no doubt he'll have a third good season. We would obviously want to keep Lawrence, but it would have to be at the right level for us. We can't, as I said previously, go smashing our own wage structures.

“People don't realise that if you do that with one player, you'll have other players knocking on the door. Agents become very well aware of what you're paying, or have paid someone. It would just make things very difficult for us. You do have to have a limit of what you're able to go to. We'll see how that one plays out. At the moment, I think it's only fair on Lawrence to let him concentrate on his football now, and get back to the level he's been at.”

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