Hearts confident Lawrence Shankland will stay but won't 'break the bank' to keep him

Tynecastle club have offered a new contract to Shankland amid transfer speculation

Hearts have offered Lawrence Shankland a new contract amid ongoing transfer speculation. (Photo by Roddy Scott / SNS Group)

Andrew McKinlay outlined the perils of breaking the bank to tie Lawrence Shankland down on a new contract as Hearts’ chief executive revealed he expects the talismanic forward to remain with the Edinburgh club beyond the current transfer window.

The 28-year-old Scotland international has scored 46 goals in a season and a half with the Jambos and his future has been the subject of intense speculation in recent months, with Rangers and several English clubs having been linked with a move.

Shankland is contracted to Hearts until the summer of 2025 and the Tynecastle club have begun talks aimed at extending his deal. However, McKinlay cautioned that Hearts cannot simply throw a huge amount of money at keeping the striker because it could open the floodgates for increased wage demands from other players.

“As of today, we’ve had no interest, either formally or informally, expressed in Lawrence and we are not encouraging any interest in Lawrence,” McKinlay told Hearts TV on Thursday.

“As has been documented, we have made an offer to Lawrence. He is already in the high paid bracket within the club – we have various brackets for players – but we’ve made him an additional offer and that’s gone to him and that remains on the table for him to consider.

“We’ll get some people saying we should pay him whatever he wants and I understand that. But I’ve got to look at things both in the immediate here and now and also in the future.

“So if you do absolutely break a wage structure or break the bank or whatever you want to say, everyone will suddenly know how much you’re paying. It’s amazing how agents always seem to know what other players are getting and I’ve got to protect us for the future as well.

“Anything we do now can have repercussions in the future. But as we sit here, Lawrence remains a Hearts player and I sincerely hope and believe that he’ll be a Hearts player on February 1.”

Shankland, who has captained Hearts over the past year in the absence of the injured Craig Gordon, is hoping to secure his place in the Scotland squad for Euro 2024 this summer.