The 40-year-old’s career appeared to be in jeopardy when he sustained the horror injury in a Premiership match at Dundee United last Christmas Eve. But after a remarkable recovery, Gordon got his first proper run-out for the Jambos when he came on for the second half of a closed-doors bounce game against Spartans at Tynecastle last Thursday, just days before Scotland sealed their place at the Euros next summer.

“Craig obviously got some minutes in the game we played, which is brilliant, so he’s in that zone where he needs to get some minutes to sharpen up that last bit,” said Hearts manager Naismith. “He’s now consistently training which is brilliant. Him being on the pitch is good because some of the boys who have come in have not trained with him so they can get to see his qualities and where he’s been so that brings respect for him from those guys.

“It’s good for him and good for us. This international break and the way it turned out for Scotland, for everybody that’s in or around the squad, on the fringes of the national team, there’s your target. Go and play well from now until the end of the season to give yourselves a chance of getting in the Euros squad.”

Craig Gordon is back in Hearts training and will have designs on making Scotland's Euro 2024 squad.

Gordon has 73 Scotland caps and was the national team’s undisputed number one prior to his injury. Norwich’s Angus Gunn has since stepped up to become first choice, with Motherwell’s Liam Kelly and Gordon’s Jambos colleague Zander Clark providing competition and cover.

Asked if it was realistic to expect Gordon to force his way into contention for the finals in Germany, Naismith said: “I think so, yeah. I would say so. Now he’s at the stage of getting minutes, we need to get games for him to play in and build his minutes up, and then that gives him a good opportunity. We’ve also got Zander and Shanks (striker Lawrence Shankland) who have been in and around it and will want to do what they can to get into that squad.”

Clark has generally done well for Hearts since taking over from Gordon last December, while Shankland has assumed the captaincy in the goalkeeper’s absence. Naismith knows he faces some big decisions when Gordon becomes fully fit in the months ahead. “Inevitably there will be a decision to be made but we’re not at that point yet,” he said. “Craig still needs to get through the phase of consistently training and playing games. The demand of that is the next challenge. How does he feel after he’s played 45 minutes? How does he feel after he’s played two 45 minutes in a week plus training, to then going to 90-minute games?

“So we’ve still got a period of time that that’s going to go on for. But as has been the case since I’ve been at the club, when there’s decisions to be made, I’ll make them. I’m comfortable with that. We’ve got three fantastic, experienced goalies here that are all comfortable and understand the nature of football, being in a squad and where they’re all at. The time will come where I’ve got a decision to make but it’s not something I’m worrying about.”

Yutaro Oda is back in full training and could be involved against Celtic.

Naismith revealed that Yutaro Oda and Alex Cochrane will both return to the squad for this Sunday’s cinch Premiership match at home to Celtic, while defender Craig Halkett, who suffered an ACL injury in the same match Gordon got injured, is also close to being back in contention. Nathaniel Atkinson and Stephen Kingsley are both missing for Hearts this weekend, while Barrie McKay – who was initially expected back in October or November from a knee injury sustained in August – is likely to be out until December.

Craig Gordon given realistic chance of Scotland Euro 2024 squad as major update given on Hearts injuries