Steven Naismith explained why he won't answer any more questions on Lawrence Shankland transfer speculation.

The Heart of Midlothian head coach spoke to the press ahead of the start of the new season which begins at home against Rangers in the Scottish Premiership at Tynecastle Park.

Here is everything he said, including squad competition, the goalkeeping position and Andres Salazar.

Do you have a preferred XI?

I'm very much against the favoured XI, last season's stats show it. We kept the same team once. Consistently throughout the season, we changed it nearly every week, we made three subs in every game on average. So that tells you we believe in the group. It is not so much about 11 players. There is much more tactical emphasis on football matches now that gone are the days of, 'We won last week so throw the same XI out this week'. The game is moving away from that, I certainly don't see the game that way. And we've recruited good quality players. We've now got real good competition. I've been there as a player. Players take dips, it can be from what is happening in their home life to maybe a niggle they are carrying. It helps with all that having a competitive squad. We are pleased with what's happened when it has happened this pre-season.

With all the names on the board, is it going to be difficult to choose an XI from week to week?

Just close your eyes and pick one, they are all good players! No, because every game is different so what we are coming up against, somebody's strengths are more suited to that game than others. Don't get me wrong, the biggest challenge for me is going to be the first month because we have got one game a week. Having a fully-fit squad all desperate to be involved there is going to be disappointment but it has been our job through pre-season and this week to highlight that to the players, to say there will be disappointment, I expect them to be disappointed if they aren't in the team but we will need everybody at some point. We got a lot of our success last season from having a good mentality around the squad, a good togetherness and everybody backing each other, even if they are on the bench and that'll be needed this season.

Have you spoken to the goalkeepers about the situation?

Yeah, throughout pre-season we have had conversations because I want their opinions too. We've got two goalies fighting it out for one spot at the moment effectively and they are two really good goalies. It is a hard decision for myself, all I can do is put my point across to both and as I've said to them, try and keep everybody content as much as possible.

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More chance to buy players with a higher ceiling from South America compared to England?

Without a doubt. I think also with visa and work permit regulations different in different countries make it a more accessible area to look at. You need to be creative. You can look domestically and you can look at tried and tested players that are lower risk in some respects but you maybe don’t have that ceiling you’d have with someone else. I go back to character: no matter where you are in the world you need to have a drive and determination to want to be better and get to the highest point. I think we’ve identified that in the players that we’ve brought in. There doesn’t seem to be any who are comfortable and think they’ve got their end goal by coming to Hearts.”

How long has Salazar been on the radar and how did the interest come about?

The last 18 months he’s been highlighted in our general recruitment meetings. It was very much a monitoring situation because it was one of those where we maybe felt he was out of reach for us.

Has there been any interest in Shankland and how is he?

He’s fine, as he has been for the last year.  The whole Shankland thing, I think I’ll speak about it now, I’m not going to answer it again in terms of if there’s another story in the paper that’s got no merit. So, there’s no conversations, there’s no bids, there’s nothing other than what we had for Alex Cochrane.  That’s where it’s at, so next week when he might be going somewhere, he might be on a list or might not be on a list, it’ll be the same answer.