Lawrence Shankland: Hearts form must improve to land Scotland spot at Euros

Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland admits he must rediscover his goalscoring form at club level if he is to have any chance of featuring for Scotland at Euro 2024.

The 28-year-old has scored just one league goal this season, despite playing every minute of all eight matches, heading into Sunday’s game against Celtic – live on Sky Sports.

Luton Town’s Jacob Brown replaced him in Scotland’s last squad as the team qualified for Euro 2024, but Shankland – who missed out on a spot at the last Euros – is confident he can turn things around to land a place on the plane to Germany next year.

“You look at yourself and see what you can improve on, and obviously my standards were really high last season,” he told Sky Sports. “I had a really good season and this season has kind of been a bit of a mixed bag.

“It’s been up and down, but hopefully I can get back to that level and I’m confident it will.

“Obviously the goalscoring takes care of itself – I’ve not scored the number of goals in my career that I’ve scored by forgetting how to score now.

“You just need one to go in and usually you go on a hot streak from there, but my overall performances will need to improve a bit and just find a wee bit more consistency, but I’m confident I’ll do this.

“I missed out on the last Euros squad, so it kind of makes you a wee bit more determined to get back involved.

“Thankfully I managed to get involved in a few of the group games and the squads again but obviously missed out on this one. I’ll work hard and hopefully re-find my form here and it gives me the best chance to get selected.

“It is always good to have a longer-term goal as well as a short-term one here, but the best way to get selected for the squads is by being your best at your club and that’s what I need to do first and foremost, and if I can do that then I give myself a right good chance of getting back in the squad.”

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