Lawrence Shankland sends Hearts v Rangers message after answering transfer question

Lawrence Shankland will soon be leading Hearts out at Hampden Park in the hope of reaching the club's first Viaplay Cup final since the 2012/13 season. The current captain of the Jambos, who may soon lose the armband to the returning Craig Gordon, suffered an eight-match goal drought earlier this season but was finally able to end the run in their 4-1 defeat to Celtic.

The 28-year-old then once again found the back of the net at Ibrox last week and will surely be hoping to add to his season's tally this weekend.

Ahead of the semi-final clash, Shankland's name has been circulating in relation to a potential move through to Rangers with ex-Rangers star Lee McCulloch and ex-Hibee Tam McManus believing the striker could be the asnwer to Rangers' problems up top.

The speculation is, Hearts fans will be pleased to hear, far from the captain's mind. Speaking ahead of this weekend's cup semi-final, Shankland was asked whether the move was in the back of his head to which he firmly replied: "Not at all. My mind is on putting Rangers out the cup. That's what we need to do this weekend and that's what I'm looking to do."

Sunday marks the second time in a week the Jambos will have faced Rangers and while the Scotland international was able to add to his goal-scoring tally, their most recent match-up ended in frustration for the Gorgie side as they relinquished their one goal lead in the final minutes of play.

Speaking of the ultimate disappointment, Shankland said: "It’s a frustration when you had your grasp on such a good result, and then just a silly decision on our part causes us the problem.

“Then, the added time gives them the chance to go and get all the momentum behind them and the atmosphere’s behind them, and everything swings their way. But the thing for us was that for 90 minutes of the game it went how we wanted it to go."

This weekend, however marks a huge opportunity for a squad which will see many of its members enjoying their first ever trip to Scotland's national stadium.

" The chance to go to Hampden and play in a semi-final doesn’t come along too often", said the striker. "But thankfully we’ve got ourselves in that position to go and play in one. So, we’re all looking forward to it.

“Recent performances have been getting better as well, there’s been a lot more positives for us across maybe the last five or six games.

“Results have maybe not gone the way we wanted in some games but performances have been getting better. So, we can go into this game with confidence."

It's been three years since Shankland has been able to lift any silverware - his last medal came with Dundee United when they secured promotion to the Premiership. But the Jambos captain is enthralled at the possibility of adding to his collection as club captain and giving Hearts' their first trophy since winning the 2020/21 Scottish Championship.

"For me, personally, it will be my first trip to Hampden with Hearts because we missed out last season in both cups. That was disappointing.

“Getting the chance to lead a team out at Hampden is something to be proud of in your career. I’m looking forward to that and hopefully I can lead the boys to a win.”