Lawrence Shankland will be conspicuous by his absence for Heart of Midlothian's Scottish Cup fourth-round tie with The Spartans on Saturday if he fails to recover from an illness.

Having dominated the transfer headlines for weeks, any unavailability will, naturally, only lead to people talking and speculating. The club's top scorer has dominated the transfer headlines for weeks. Talks have been taking place for weeks to extend his contract beyond 2025 with an offer tabled.

Hearts head coach Steven Naismith suggested, to those with concerns, not to read too much into it if he doesn't make the squad. The club's talismanic striker has missed after being ill for the last two days. 

READ MORE: Steven Naismith Q&A: Shankland illness, Gordon 'chance', first-team star returns

"I'm still hopeful he will make the squad," he said. "If he doesn't, he doesn't. We've obviously got three games in a week so I'm hopeful we can get him back involved. Time will tell.

"He spoke to the medical team, the doctor and like any viral issue the doc is very keen to keep him away from the environment."

Hearts have not received any offers for Shankland and Naismith confirmed there has been "no off-the-record chat". The Hearts boss sought to praise his captain for the way he has handled the noise. Even before the transfer window opened, he was asked numerous times on media duties about his Hearts future. 

“There’s loads of this speculation, he might get this move or that move and then numbers get thrown around," Naismith said. "We’ve had nothing as a club, but for Lawrence that can be hard to deal with.

READ MORE: What Hearts fans learned from the management team presentation

“Over the last few months he has dealt with it brilliantly, he understands the situation he is in. And for any player, as you get older it probably becomes harder because you have so many more things to think about, your future, your family.

“Again, for any player who is out of contract, there are potential options that won’t be there if you’re under contract. So there are all these things. But as a club, all we can do is show him how much value we think he has got, how much love we have for him, and what he can achieve here. Lawrence will then sit and weigh up everything and decide.

“There seems to be a ‘What’s happening, what’s happening?’. We have been speaking for weeks. It’s not a major priority because he has 18 months left, so we’re all comfortable with it. What will happen will happen.

“As a club, we can only enjoy what Shanks is doing and hope he will develop and become a legend and want to sign and stay and achieve more.”

READ MORE: Hearts and the 'consistent' recruitment approach that could lead to third

Meanwhile, Naismith believes he can keep both Craig Gordon and Zander Clark happy as they vie for the No.1 spot at Tynecastle Park and a place in Steve Clarke's Scotland squad to go to Euro 2024.

There has been talk that Gordon will start against The Spartans in what would be his first game since suffering a double leg break on Christmas Eve 2022. The Hearts head coach said there is a "chance".

"Whether he does or doesn't, we'll wait and see," Naismith said. "Zander and Craigy both want to go to the Euros. They both want to play. I think I can keep them both happy. Whether that's changing the goalie or having chats with them, we will wait and see. But I think I can keep them both happy.

"I'm not going to sit here and say one is playing this and one is playing that, what we now have is a brilliant dynamic. In every position we desperately crave competition because it keeps everyone at the top level.

"I think, in the last month, Zander's performances have gone from being a really good goalie to 'I have got someone to compete with and I need to make sure I am at the top level' and he has shown that in an extremely hard situation where it is not just a good goalie coming back, it's a club legend, it's the best guy who has come through the academy, the admiration he has from the fans. Zander has had to deal with that and he’s dealt with it brilliantly.

“So it’s a competitive environment and we’ll see how that develops, but I’m comfortable with the both of them to be champing at the bit to play.”