Lawrence Shankland’s sleepless nights over Hearts future.

Lawrence Shankland is unlikely to wish to repeat his recent experience as a free agent. The Heart of Midlothian striker decided to run down his contract, which ended at the conclusion of last season, in order to see if there was another alternative out there that appealed to him as a new challenge.

The 29-year-old gave it a month but decided to stay at Hearts, with Derek McInnes overjoyed to secure his summer priority on a new three-year deal. Shankland, as previously indicated, had several bids, including a lucrative one in Turkey. Even with the money on offer, the family decided it wasn’t worth it.

He stated that there were a few restless nights and angry debates at home during the process. Members of his family, including his wife and children, who are huge supporters of mascot Jock the Jambo, are keen to stay at Tynecastle Park.

With the contract negotiations behind him, he can finally be at ease, both on and off the pitch. “It’s important, especially when you’ve when you’ve got young kids, starting school, etc,” Shankland told me. “These are challenging times for them as well. So you need to evaluate all of that and make a selection that is both football-related and family-friendly.

“And to be honest, my missus, I believe, was quite keen for me to stay here, and my kids, they’re basically Hearts fans now; that’s all they’ve known about me.” So, I believe they wanted me to be here because they had friends in the players’ lounge as well.

“There were a lot of factors pointing in this direction, but given the circumstances, I felt I just needed to give myself time to weigh what was available and see if there was an option that sparked something in me that said, ‘Oh, you know, I want to try that.'” However, the things that came up did not, to be honest.

“Aside from the financial side, it never really ticked many boxes in terms of family, which was important to me, so that also influenced my decision. “On the whole, it was a very relaxing summer, but there were a few sleepless nights due to making decisions and thinking about things. There were several heated disputes in the house. “That’s simply part of it.

We knew it was all building up to the end of last season.that’s almost a relief when you finally make a decision and get things done because there is so much to consider in that position, and I’m not sure whether I’d want to go back to that if I’m being honest, but I’m just grateful to get it solved and be happy where I am.”

Jock the Jambo, who is Shankland’s children’s favourite, may also be able to negotiate a rise. “To be fair, I believe the two girls have every teddy of Jock the Jambo in the club shop. “Stickers everywhere,” he remarked. “They two will be delighted going to see him again.”

Shankland would not fly to Spain to meet up with the squad until near the end of their week-long summer training camp. When the team flew out with the previously announced roster, excluding Shankland, the player was having a “lovely” weekend in Loch Lomond. At that time, he realised his return to Hearts was imminent.

It helped that McInnes was at ease with the issue, patient enough to let Shankland explore his alternatives without imposing a firm schedule, as long as they kept in communication.

“I was aware of the situation, the conversations we were having and we’d kind of agreed as long as I was being honest with him in the conversations that he wasn’t too keen to put a deadline on things and see how things were going,” he told me.

“So the conversations me and the manager were having were really positive, and as I said, I was happy that he gave me that bit of time and that bit of patience to get things, get things sorted because I believe he’ll think that not putting a deadline on it paid off at this point, and it was probably best for me to think about everything as well.

“Everything between myself, the manager, and the club was kind of open. Aside from that, people speculate and attempt to figure out what’s going on, but there was clarity around the situation for all sides, so everything was well.” Speaking about the team’s trip to Spain over the weekend, he added:

“There were a lot of conversations left to be had, and I think the club was probably tired of being asked on social media about what was going on, so they probably just released that squad to kind of calm things down for a couple of days because things needed to be sorted, which was going to take some time.

“But at that time, I felt fairly optimistic that it could be completed. Although there were a few i’s to dot and t’s to cross, it was completed in the end.

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