Lawrence Shankland admits he probably sacrificed his Scotland chances by moving to Belgium.
The striker left relegated Beerschot last week to join Hearts on a three-year deal, and got off the mark on his debut with a double in their final pre-season friendly win over Stoke City. It’s been two years since he donned the dark blue in a 1-0 defeat to Slovakia. He was overtaken in the pecking order by Hibs’ Kevin Nisbet after he started his Easter Road career on fire and earned a call-up for Euro 2020. However, the Hibees hitman is out long term with an ankle and knee injury and Shankland is eyeing an international return - provided he does the business in maroon.
“Everybody in their career wants to play for the national team,” he said. “It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been involved but these things happen and you see people getting back in as well.
“It’s something I’ll be looking to do but first and foremost coming to Hearts, I want to be successful here and be a good player for this football club. If the national team come calling from that, then ideal.
“It could have [hindered Scotland chances], but I was playing for a team down the bottom of the table fighting for their lives every week. I was playing out of position for most of the season as well, so I knew my chances would be slim.
“But it’s just something I needed to accept. I made the decision to go there and try it. Maybe it was a wee bit of a sacrifice, but we’ll see. I’m at a big club again and I'm looking forward to getting going.”
Hitting the 20 goal target in a season has become something of a holy grail for Hearts strikers in recent years. Kyle Lafferty and Liam Boyce have come close, but none have managed it since the club’s all-time leading league goalscorer John Robertson over two decades ago.
Shankland would love to be next. However, he stopped short of setting a target for himself so as not to put any undue pressure on himself.
“If I get 20 I’ll be delighted, but I’ll not pile pressure on myself with a number,” he warned. “I’ll look to score as many as I can and if I get that far, everyone will be happy, including myself.”
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