Steven Naismith gives Lawrence Shankland a private lesson on Rangers transfers before Hearts’ comeback.

Lawrence Shankland has benefited from the transfer teachings that Steven Naismith imparted to him while he was connected to the Rangers.

In preparation for Tuesday’s Premiership match at Tynecastle against Dundee, the Hearts striker has returned to training. That comes after an illness kept him out of Saturday’s Scottish Cup fourth round victory over Spartans. Shankland returned to Riccarton and is expected to lead the line against the Dark Blues, despite wild speculation that he didn’t want to be cup tied amid links to Rangers.

When Naismith was a Kilmarnock player, he was

in the middle of a chaotic Ibrox move. His eventual move from Rugby Park to Ibrox was finalized with just one minute left in the 2007 summer transfer window. That followed four fruitless tries, the transfer request being withdrawn, and the player giving Celtic permission to speak with him. As for the Jambos’ manager, Shankland is handling the spotlight better than any player Naismith has seen in years, and as long as contract talks continue, he won’t be worried about his top scorer’s future.

“Lawrence is the same every day when I talk to the players. I’ve made an effort to simply share my knowledge from my time as a player in these circumstances. To be honest, I think he handled it better than most people I’ve seen handle it. That’s it. For the remainder, you have the necessary conversations as a leader and an experienced player. centered more on how, as a team and as a unit, we’re going to win football games than anything else.

You have no control over anything. What you do on the field is all under your control. The most important thing I took away from it was that. What is is what is. If something is meant to happen, it will, and if not, there are many positive things to focus on and be grateful for. Not a soul save the Europeans.”

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