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.

[4] 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;[5] 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.

[7][8] 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.

[12] 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.

[17] 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.

[19] In September 2017, free agent Shankland signed a short-term contract to play for Scottish League One club Ayr United until the following January.

[25] In November 2018, he scored four goals in a league fixture away to Dundee United which ended 5–0 and put Ayr five points clear at the top of the table.

[27] Shankland, whose total return was 34 goals in 41 games, was nominated for the division's PFA Player of the Year Award,[28] but lost out to another prolific striker, Stephen Dobbie.

[29] On 3 July 2019 it was announced that Shankland had left Ayr to join fellow Championship side Dundee United on a three-year contract, turning down offers from other clubs in both England and Scotland.

[34] The season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Scotland, and curtailed a month later, with Dundee United declared winners and promoted;[35] up to that point Shankland had scored 24 league goals to finish as the division's top scorer, and maintained the ratio of almost a goal-per-game he had set at Ayr, with a total of 28 from 33 appearances.

[46] He won his first cap when he came on as a second-half substitute in the side's 4–0 defeat by Russia on 10 October[47] (playing alongside national team captain Andy Robertson for the first time since their time at Queen's Park in the fourth tier of Scottish football, nearly seven years earlier)[48] and three days later made his first start and scored his first goal, the fourth in a 6–0 victory over San Marino at Hampden Park.