Shankland: Cammy will show us Messi's shirt

The 27-year-old striker arrived in Edinburgh in the summer from Belgian side Beerschot, and has quickly endeared himself to the Hearts support after notching 12 strikes in all competitions for the Jambos this campaign.
 
As the men in maroon get into the final days of their Spanish training camp in the Malaga region – Lawrence knows the importance of keeping the goals flowing as long as he holds the number nine shirt at Tynecastle.
 
“The camp’s been good. First and foremost, it’s good to get all the boys back together again after our wee break, to get together and get some bonding going,” he told Hearts TV.  “We’ve been able to get some minutes in the legs as well which is very beneficial.
 
“It’s hard to not enjoy it when you’ve started like that. It’s been a good start for me but that’s all it is. Good starts don’t get you anywhere come the end of the season. We need to keep it going because there’s a lot of football still to be played. Hopefully a lot of goals still to be scored as well. I want to keep that going once we’ve restarted.
 
“It gives everyone a lift, especially because of some of the injuries we’ve had: quite long term and pretty serious. The Aussies have been away and obviously done very well at the World Cup. It’s been great for all of us to sit and watch it from afar.”
 
Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin made international headlines this week after swapping shirts with football icon Lionel Messi following Australia’s round of 16 defeat to Argentina in the knockout stages in Qatar.
 
It was going to take something special to get a hold of the legendary forward’s shirt, and Shankland knew that our Aussie dynamo had it about him to get his hands on the shirt.
 
“We’re looking forward to getting them back, and they’ll have a natural buzz going for them as well. Cammy will probably have Messi’s top on as well so we can all have a look at that,” he smiled. “I was talking to Mick when we were watching the game and said: ‘I bet wee Cammy will get Messi’s top, he’ll charge right in there!’
 
“You only get that opportunity once, and fair play, we all wish we could have had it.”

You can catch Lawrence's full interview on Hearts TV, and our YouTube channel.