Hearts return not a 'hard sell' for Shankland

Lawrence Shankland said it was not "a hard sell" to persuade him to leave relegated Beerschot and join Heart of Midlothian - the club where the Scotland striker was part of the academy until his early teens.

The 26-year-old, who spent a season in the Belgian top flight after leaving Dundee United last summer, has signed a three-year contract at Tynecastle after Hearts agreed an undisclosed fee.

"It was a successful season for Hearts last year and this year they are in European football as well, so I thought it was going to be a really good time to join the club and I was excited at the prospect," he told Hearts TV.

"I enjoyed it as a kid and hopefully I can bring success to the first team now."

Shankland scored just five goals in 26 appearances in Belgian football but believes he can still take "positives" from his experience.

"It was a tough season and not a very good one for the team, but it got to a point where I just had to concentrate on myself individually and take as much as I could out of the season and I played quite a lot of games in the end and got a fair bit of experience," he said. "I scored a few goals against good teams as well."

Shankland teams up again with former Ayr United team-mate Alan Forrest, the winger who has joined Hearts from Livingston, and Robbie Neilson, who took him to Tannadice.

"I obviously had a good relationship with the manager and the staff when I was at Dundee United and kept in touch with them throughout," he said. "As soon as I heard they were interested, I was very keen to come here - and it wasn't just about them - Hearts are a massive club in general."

Surprisingly, considering he also turned out for Queen's Park, Aberdeen, Dunfermline Athletic, St Mirren and Greenock Morton, Shankland has only ever played once at Tynecastle, but he hopes it is a good omen - having scored there for Dundee United in a 1-1 draw back in July 2019.