As things stand, Lawrence Shankland won't be a Heart of Midlothian player next season. 

The Hearts captain is one of eight first-team players whose deal expires at the end of the current campaign.

The contract talks with Shankland were shelved midway through last season when an agreement wasn't reached. And they have not been reopened with the striker confirming that there has been "no contract" and that he and the club are currently "comfortable where" they are at.

"Right now, at this moment in time, my contract will be finishing," he confirmed. "I won’t have one at Hearts, so that indicates that you move on. That's the situation where we're at with the club. That's where we left it.

"There is no contract on the table. That was an agreement we were happy to leave at that point. Both of us accepted it and moved on. That's where it's been since then. 

"I think right now as it stands, both the club and myself are comfortable where we're at. In terms of talks, we'll move forward and see how the next couple of months go. But more importantly than that everybody's been concentrating on trying to improve things on the pitch. Once that's done, I imagine we can worry about things off it."

While Shankland is currently in the most difficult period of his Hearts career, he has two memorable seasons in his back catalogue having become the first player to hit 20 goals in a season for the club since John Robertson more than 30 years ago. And then became the first to hit 30 goals since 1988 and only the second since 1958.

It's difficult to see what more he could have done to earn a big move. Therefore it seemed to be a huge surprise that no club stepped up to prise the striker away from Tynecastle Park.

"I don't know if surprised is the right word," he said. "Obviously, when you have the seasons that you have and you've been successful, the rewards of football can sometimes be a move on to bigger things.

"You can't guarantee that that comes around. I think the biggest thing is that you keep doing what you're doing. Keep replicating previous seasons.

"Of course, right now we're in a bit more of a difficult moment. Personally, I've got full belief that I'll get out of this and start scoring goals again. I think it'll be rosy again. I wasn't too worried about it.

"There's a lot of factors that come into moving on. Price tags, people, age, where you are in your career. There are a lot of things that people take into consideration if they want to come and get a player.

"It wasn't something I concerned myself too much about. I had a year left in my contract at Hearts. In my head, at the end of the season, that was where I was going to be returning for the pre-season."

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In the here and now the focus has been on Shankland's goal-scoring, or lack thereof. He has netted just once all season with a drought of eight to start the campaign while he's currently nine without a goal for Hearts.

In Critchley, the 29-year-old has a big fan. Shankland is one of five players to start every game under the head coach.

"I think he's been brilliant," Critchley said. "I think he's a great guy. I think he's very hard on himself, sometimes too hard.

"I thought he was fantastic against Rangers when I watched the game back. He was brilliant with the ball, he did a great job for us in possession and he really helped us control the game, particularly in the second half.

"He's putting so much into the game, the physical data would have backed that up as well he's covering a lot of distance. He's working hard for the team without the ball and he's been playing pretty much every minute of every game so he's consistently there.

"He keeps putting himself in the firing line, he's the captain of the team and deservedly so he's a quiet leader, he's not a shouter or a bawler but he leads by example."

Critchley made a mention of the physical data. It is an aspect of the game where Shankland has been criticised. Hearts fans will no doubt have heard or even uttered the term "conditioning".

Shankland is not someone who will take outside noise, criticism and jibes to heart but having had issues earlier in his career with that element of football he's conscious of his shape. And he revealed he's the fittest he has been since joining the club, joking that maybe that's the issue.

(Image: Ross Parker - SNS Group)

"I'm fully aware I'm not the most flattering individual in a football kit," he laughed. "I get that. When I bump into people on the street, they sometimes tell me that as well. I think there have been plenty of players over the years that I've probably looked at and thought, 'He looks heavy', but that's not the case.

"I've been cautious of my condition over the years. It's something that let me down when I was younger. I'm at a club now where they do all these tests, and I'm pretty sure they would say to me, 'You're getting a bit above board here, you need to sort this out'. I'm not the greatest physique to look at, I get that. But in terms of fitness, I do look after myself. It's something that I take pride in. I'm available for games week in, week out. Every four days, I'm there.

"When you don't score goals, it does get mentioned and looked at, but I don't like to get too caught up in it until the boss comes to me and says, get on the scales.

"I'm probably in better shape than I have been the last two years, so maybe that's a problem!"

For now, it is another big night for Shankland to look forward to as a Hearts player. While he has done plenty for the club, they have also given him the platform to do what he has in the last two seasons.

And Celtic are a team he likes playing against, scoring six over two full seasons.

"It's part of the experience, playing on the big nights," he said. "That's why you come to a club like Hearts. That's why you play in all these big games. Including tomorrow night. Occasions like that at Tynecastle are always the most enjoyable ones.

"Getting the chance to lead the boys out to these games is obviously great."

And who knows what the longer-term future could hold.

He added: "You never say never in football. Right now, the situation, if you're asking me, that's where it's at."