Lawrence Shankland

Lawrence Shankland (born 10 August 1995) is a footballer who plays as a striker for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team.

Shankland began his career at Queen's Park before moving to Aberdeen in 2013. He played on loan with Dunfermline Athletic, St Mirren and Greenock Morton before joining Ayr United in 2017. He signed for Dundee United in 2019 and made his debut for Scotland later that year. In 2021 Shankland moved to Belgian club Beerschot, but returned to Scotland after one year, signing with Hearts.

Shankland was born in Glasgow and attended Bannerman High School in Baillieston. He progressed through the Queen's Park youth system and was their top goalscorer in the 2012–13 season, having moved to the senior squad straight from the under-17 team; he also worked part-time as a tool setter in a local plumbing supplies company, a position arranged by the amateur club to help their young players earn a wage. He scored his first senior goal on 4 August 2012, aged 16, in a Scottish League Cup tie against Airdrieonians.

Shankland signed for Aberdeen at the end of the season. He was one of three Queen's Park players to move to top flight Scottish clubs at that time, as Andy Robertson and Aidan Connolly signed for Dundee United. Blair Spittal also made the move to Dundee United a year later.

Shankland was initially placed in the Aberdeen under-20 squad, as he adjusted to full-time professional training. He made his debut appearance for Aberdeen in September 2014, in a 3–2 victory against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. After impressing in the under-20s, scoring plenty of goals, and making first team appearances as a substitute, Shankland signed a new contract to run until summer 2017; however, he was loaned to lower-division clubs for the vast majority of its duration. At the end of the 2016–17 season, Aberdeen confirmed that Shankland would be leaving the club.

Shankland moved to Dunfermline Athletic on loan for the latter part of the 2013–14 season. The 18-year-old striker scored seven league goals during his short spell in Fife; however, injury prevented him taking part in the Pars' end-of-season promotion play-off with local rivals Cowdenbeath which ended in defeat.

Shankland was loaned to St Mirren in August 2015 for the rest of the 2015–16 season. He scored his first goal for the Buddies in a 2–1 home defeat to Raith Rovers on 18 September 2015. Shankland scored 10 goals in 32 appearances during his loan spell, and returned to Aberdeen at the end of the season.

In July 2016 it was confirmed that Shankland had returned to St Mirren, on a season-long loan. However, having failed to score any league goals in the first half of the season, his St Mirren deal was cut short and on 11 January 2017, he moved on loan to their rivals, fellow Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton. After helping the club to a fourth-place finish, his final appearance for Morton was in the Scottish Premiership playoff defeat to Dundee United.