The Hearts captain continued his fine form this season by bagging a goal against Celtic at Parkhead on Saturday, and his impressive goal tally has meant speculation about his future has been mounting.

Rangers appear to be the heavy favourites to sign the Scotland international, but clubs from down south have also been linked with his signature.

It remains to be seen where Shankland will end up, but he insists the speculation is a sign that he is performing well on the pitch.

He explained: “It’s a sign you’re doing well when there’s speculation, that’s what I take from that. It’s always been the case throughout my career, there’s always been speculation flying about.

“It’s a sign I’m doing my job well and scoring goals. That’s all I focus on, doing my job for Hearts and doing it well.”

On his goal against Celtic, Shankland continued: “I was just focused on hitting the target. When you find yourself a bit free it’s just about hitting the target.

“It’s always better when you’re winning. That makes it more special. The boys can be proud of that performance. It’s been a real long time since Hearts came here and won. You need to enjoy those moments and we deserved to enjoy it.”

This week at the Hearts AGM, Andrew McKinlay stressed that the club have no plans to sell  Shankland in January as he expressed “slight bemusement” at the level of negativity surrounding the Tynecastle club.

“There’s a lot of speculation about Lawrence, but I can categorically say that no one – agents or clubs or anyone – has said anything to us about Lawrence leaving in January or has approached us,” he said after Thursday’s AGM.

“There has been absolutely nothing on the subject. We are totally dealing with conjecture. We are not looking to sell Lawrence in January.

“If someone comes in with an exceptional bid then we’d have a duty to consider it as a board but it’s been self-evident in the last number of games just how important Lawrence is to the club.

“Hence it would take an incredibly-exceptional deal for us to even think about it.”

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