The case for Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland to play from the start if Scotland want Euro 2024 progress

No-one has scored more than the Tynecastle striker this term but he is not guaranteed a place

Clamour for Lawrence Shankland to be given a Scotland starting slot at next month’s European Championship is growing. Following 32 goals in 51 games in all competitions this season, the Hearts captain is by far the most prolific striker named today in a 28-man provisional squad for the tournament.

His overall record for club and country since arriving at Tynecastle Park from Beerschot in summer 2022 is 60 goals in 99 appearances. A player in his prime and motivated to prove himself on the international stage, Shankland is competing with Southampton’s Ché Adams and Queens Park Rangers’ Lyndon Dykes for a place in the Scotland side at Euro 2024. He has two goals from nine caps to date.

National coach Steve Clarke knows Adams and Dykes are more experienced at international level. Adams boasts 29 caps and five goals, with Dykes claiming 36 caps and nine goals. Both played for Scotland at the last European Championship in 2021. Notably, none of them can match Shankland’s numbers at club level this season. Scotland play Gibraltar and Finland in pre-tournament friendlies before group matches against Germany, Switzerland and Hungary.

Former Hearts striker John Robertson is convinced Shankland deserves a place in Clarke’s team at the Euros. His reasoning is straightforward, with Scotland seeking to reach the knockout phase of a major competition for the first time in history. “Lawrence should be a starter for Scotland given the amount of goals he has scored,” said the Tynecastle legend.

“If this was qualifiers over two years for a European Championship or a World Cup, you could understand that there is a style of play. So there might be an acceptance that Steve Clarke wants a big striker who is quick and can run in behind to stretch defences. That would allow space for a Stuart Armstrong, a Ryan Christie or a John McGinn just behind.

"However, we are going into a knockout tournament. You have to win games. You need to get as many points as you can in eight days, so you need people who are going to score goals. I think Lawrence is clever enough to play off Lyndon Dykes or Ché Adams and also add his ability in the penalty box.

"There's no doubt about it, he is a goalscorer and we are going to need goals. There is nobody in the squad getting anywhere near Shankland's goals tally. You could probably put all the strikers Scotland have used over the last four or five years together and I don't think their goals combined would add up to Shankland's total.”