Lawrence Shankland's journey to the top of Scottish football hasn't been a straight-forward one.

In fact, as has been well-documented, the Hearts striker has faced more than a few challenges throughout his career, such as his release from Aberdeen, and then bouncing around several Championship clubs.

It took until a call from Ian McCall to join him at Ayr United for things to start looking up for the prolific frontman. 

It's one thing scoring a barrowload in the lower leagues though, it's another being able to do it consistently in the top flight.

One thing that's guaranteed with Shankland is goals. Over the last six years, he proved that. 

He was last night named PFA Scotland's Premiership Player of the Year, and it's a moment that at one stage of his career, he probably couldn't have dreamed of.

"I had a think about it today," the 28-year-old said. "It was five or six years ago that I was here picking up the League One Player of the Year. 

"I was delighted with that, so the journey I've been on to build myself back up to the Premiership, and obviously the Premiership's best player of the season, it's a very proud moment.

"Every journey is different for people in their career, sometimes it's a wee bit up and down. For me, it has been, quite a lot. But you just need to plod along, keep working hard, work on what you need to work on and hopefully, it pays off with rewards like this."

Hearts' talisman is about to enter the final 12 months of his contract at Tynecastle.

Speculation has surrounded the Scotland international for years now, even before he joined the Jambos three years ago.

Given his circumstances though, it's understandable that noise will surround what's next for him until his future is wrapped up one way or another. That's something he hopes will be sorted soon.

READ MORE: Lawrence Shankland named Player of the Year at PFA awards

Asked when it will be time to think about that, he responded: "At the end of this season, I think. We'll get the rest of the games out of the way. 

"We've managed to secure the objective we wanted at the start of the season - that was third and Europe. We can look forward to the next few games.

"At the end of the season, obviously, there will be conversations had, as there is at the end of every season. 

"But I'm coming into the last year of my contract and conversations will need to be had at some point. For now, I just want to enjoy this moment."

Steve Clarke can pick up to 26 players for his Scotland squad to compete at Euro 2024 this summer. 

Shankland's place on the plane to Germany has never really been in any doubt, certainly given his 28 goals in all competitions this season. 

But the frontman certainly sees the bright side of additional numbers being added to the head coach's quota.

He added: "Hopefully looking forward to it - the squad getting extended obviously helps your chances of going.

"Fingers crossed I can get a few goals in the last few games, keep my form up and we can go look forward to that tournament.

"It's on the horizon now and you can see it. The main thing is, everyone will be looking to stay fit and get through these games, hopefully finish their form off well and go into the tournament with a bit of confidence."