Robbie Neilson is convinced Hearts can help get Lawrence Shankland back playing for Scotland.
The Jambos’ new signing has four caps for his country and has scored once at international level, in the 6-0 rout of San Marino in October 2019.
But the 26-year-old’s last cap came back in 2020 as a late substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Slovakia.
Neilson was in charge at Dundee United when Shankland moved to Tannadice and then earned his first cap.
The Hearts boss is convinced the former Aberdeen and Ayr United striker is now an even better player following his year in Belgium with Beerschot.
And, after landing his long-term target on a three-year deal last week, Neilson insists his Tynecastle side can be the perfect springboard for Shankland to catch the eye of Steve Clarke again.
With the marksman netting twice on his debut against Stoke City at the weekend, Neilson said: “I had him at Dundee United and he is a natural goal-scorer. I think he’ll add massively to the club; we create chances and we need guys to put the ball in the net.
“We had a great relationship with Lawrence. We worked with him at Dundee United and he scored 25 goals and won us the Championship and we always kept an eye on him and kept in contact with him as well.
“We’ve been working for a long time to try and get him here and I’m just delighted he’s here.
“We watched his games over there and you can see he has developed as a player over there, playing in a different style and different culture. He’s a couple of years older now and experienced.
“So our job now is to get him into good positions and great chances for him and I’m sure he’ll score goals.
“[The aim is to] get him scoring goals for Hearts and get him back into the international team.”
