Lawrence Shankland has admitted that he would love to finish his career at Hearts, and served up a cheeky quip when asked about three wishes he has for the Tynecastle club.
The striker, who has notched up 21 goals in all competitions so far this season, has played a pivotal part in heling the Jambos establish a five point lead in the Premiership table after 26 matches, with Robbie Neilson's men in a strong position to secure European group stage football next season for a second consecutive year.
Shankland has also accepted more responsibility on the pitch in months, assuming the role of captain in the absence of veteran keeper Craig Gordon who was ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a double leg break on Christmas Eve.
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His current contract in Gorgie still has two years left to run, but the Scotland international has hinted that he would be keen to spend the rest of his career at Hearts, and joked that he still has a few more contracts still in him. Speaking to PLZ Soccer, he said: "It'd be great if I did because that would mean another few contracts until I get to that age!
"Right now, I'm just concentrating on the here and now and keep doing what I'm doing week-in, week-out. If that gets rewarded with years further on, then so be it. But things are going quite well at the minute and I'm really enjoying it, so I'd be happy to stay here."
His 17 goals in the Premiership so far this season means he sits just two behind Celtic's Kyogo Furuhashi in the race for the golden boot, but Shankland says it is not something he thinks about all that much.
He added: "He's playing for Celtic and he's a good striker so he's going to score goals for them. It's my job to try and score goals for Hearts and wherever we end up come the end of the season, we end up."
The 27-year old has yet to win any major trophies in his professional career, but is quietly confident that one with Hearts is not too far away if they can get past Celtic in the quarter final of the Scottish Cup. He said: "You always dream of winning trophies as a kid. Coming here, it's probably the best opportunity I've had at a club this size to win silverware.
"We've obviously got a tough tie in the next round with Celtic, but if you are going to win the cups then you'll probably need to beat them somewhere a long the line. Hopefully we can do that here."
Shankland was then asked what his three wishes for the remainder of the season were, and offered a cheeky response by saying: "Beat Celtic in the league and the Cup and then go and win the Scottish Cup!"
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