Hearts boss issues Lawrence Shankland transfer update after 'comfortable' Deadline Day

The Jambos skipper had been linked with Rangers, among other clubs, but will be staying at Tynecastle until at least the summer.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith said it was a 'comfortable' transfer Deadline Day at Tynecastle and was relaxed regarding the situation involving club captain and top scorer Lawrence Shankland.

The Jambos gaffer said there were no last minute bids or enquiries for the Scotland international and that he was not worried about losing his talisman. He said: "I was comfortable because I knew what it would take.

"If someone was willing to pay that money then the decision is the decision. It’s a hard decision but it’s one you need to take for the bigger picture, the club. But if nobody was going to get to that point then we were always going to keep him. I’ve said we have 18 months of Lawrence being here minimum, if that’s what we want. The summer will be another issue. If clubs are wanting your players they are going to come and bid. That’s for us to decide.

“Like any of our players we think are assets, we will try and prolong their career and time at the club. We have offered Lawrence a new contract and at this time we’ve offered as good as we can. Then there’s a tie limit on it more to stop the questions being asked.

“We want him to be here for as long as he can be. We are doing all we can at the moment, if that’s not right for Lawrence, and who’s to say in the summer it is or isn’t, we will wait and see if anything comes of that. At the moment we have stopped everything. We will focus on being successful in the second half of the season. And hopefully finish with a good cup run and European football at the end of the season.”

Asked about if and when he will revisit contract talks with his skipper, Naismith added: "We'll talk about the football, there will come a point where I'm sure we'll have another conversation about a contract extension but it is what it is, he'll sign or he'll not. What I'm not going to accept is consistently getting asked about one player that is here for 18 months minimum if we want him here. So, it's not a big issue, it's basically a deadline and we just move on now, football moves quickly, we'll now focus on the football." 

Shankland was not the only Hearts player who had been linked with a possible January move with Alex Cochrane another who reportedly had interest. However, in the end there was only one late bid that came to the club on Deadline day and it was quickly booted out by the Jambos.

Fleetwood Town made a last ditch attempt to secure a loan move for Toby Sibbick and Naismith explained: "The Toby one comes from it being a window and people being desperate and needing a deal to be done. By that point the window is gone for us and we can’t react. I said if there’s players that don’t want to be here and there’s an opportunity to leave maybe two weeks ago then maybe you can do something to cover. But going into the last day there’s no chance of that. Toby was comfortable with that as well.”