Is Shankland finally the striker Scotland have been waiting for?

Steven Naismith remembers it well. A game in Amsterdam before the last Euros, Lawrence Shankland up front on his own, a friendly to see if he was a contender for when the big stuff happened in Germany.

Naismith is Steve Clarke's assistant now but back then he was Shankland's manager at Hearts.

It was mid-March 2024 and the striker was tearing it up at Tynecastle. He had 28 goals to his name, including a run of 15 in 15. He was flying - and starting against the Netherlands.

"At one point, the ball breaks to him 20 yards out and rather than taking it out of his feet and finishing, he tries to reverse it for Scott McTominay," says Naismith.

"I was watching it and that moment told me that he's still at sea at international level. See, when you go into the international set-up the first thing in your mind is fitting in. Just fit in. And I think that was Shanks fitting in.

"I texted him after and I said 'I cannae work out why you're passing to McTominay because I'd rather you have that shot than anybody else'. But when I thought about it I could understand it because maybe he was a bit unsure of his place.

"I told him he needed to think about what's got him there. 'You're in that starting team because the manager trusts you to take these chances. Don't pass them up.'

"He's totally different now. He's comfortable. He believes he's part of it. And that's why he's in the squad - for these moments. He's matured so, so much. He's just elevated his game."

This Scotland squad is full of stories and Shankland's sudden rise to undroppable status is one of the better ones.

In their quieter moments, you wonder if Shankland and Andy Robertson reminisce about their time together at Queen's Park, their trips to Elgin and Berwick, Annan and Montrose.

Thirteen years ago they were team-mates in the fourth tier of Scottish football, finalists in the play-offs to enter the rarefied air of the third tier. They lost 1-0 at home to Peterhead in the first leg and 3-1 away in the second (attendance 954).

From Balmoor - home of Peterhead - to Boston and the greatest show on earth.

Robertson's journey to the World Cup has been laced with huge moments on giant stages with Liverpool over many years, but Shankland is only now emerging as a main man in his country's eyes.

His run of form this season has made Clarke alter his thinking from one upfront to two, from Che Adams as the lone runner up top to a partnership with Shankland that has looked potent.

Shankland scored 24 goals in 38 games last season. He has 10 in his last 12, eight in his last nine, six in his last six.

He has played 173 minutes of international football since last August and has scored four goals. One every 43 minutes - no matter who you're getting them against - is an astonishing return.

He's taken the long road to Boston, from Queen's Park to Dunfermline, from Dunfermline to Aberdeen, from Aberdeen to St Mirren, and then Morton and Ayr United in the summer of 2017, when things started to happen for him.

That's where he encountered Ian McCall, the Ayr manager who has become a mentor and friend to Shankland.

"Our relationship had a rocky start," says McCall. "He left me standing for 45 minutes at Lochinch training centre armed with the loan forms to bring him to Ayr from Aberdeen.

"It was only when I received a call from Owen Coyle [a good friend of Lawrence senior] that I found out he was on his way to Cappielow to sign for Morton. I was a little angry - it's the first and last time he ever let me down."

McCall never gave up on him and eventually persuaded the striker to join him at Ayr.

Shankland scored in nine of his first 10 games for the club, who were in the League One at the time. He finished the season with 29 in 33 and helped them get promoted. Then he hit 34 in 41 in the Championship

"It became obvious quite early that he was playing levels below where he was capable of playing," says his former manager. "He can score every type of goal; tap ins, headers, right foot, left foot, curlers, drives, chips and on the odd occasion from 50 yards..."

Shankland launched one from halfway - Kenny McLean style - after he left Ayr to join Dundee United, a 53-yard strike against St Johnstone in January 2021.

"When you have his varied abilities it was clear that he would get to a high level," says McCall. "But it took him longer than we both thought."

Not much has come easy to Shankland.

In his pre-Ayr years, he bounced in the lower leagues, made a move to Aberdeen that never worked out, had a really good first season with Dundee United and an underwhelming second, then went to Beerschot in Belgium in 2021 and that didn't work either.

When he fetched up at Hearts in 2022, he came alive again - 28 goals in 48 games in his debut season, then 33 in 56 the season after. He went to the Euros, made three - albeit brief - appearances off the bench, but at least he was in the picture.

There was another challenge on its way, though. In 2024-25, Shankland only scored nine for Hearts. They finished seventh in the Premiership. He didn't look as fit or as mobile as he should have and didn't always play in the position he should have.

Contractual stuff carried on and on in the background. He was touted as a future Rangers player but they weren't interested. His representatives wanted more money for him to stay at Tynecastle and the club weren't prepared to pay it. It was knotted and divisive.

Then, Derek McInnes came in as manager and made his admiration for Shankland crystal clear to his new board. A deal was done, a player-manager relationship blossomed and Shankland was immense.

He scored in the famous game against Denmark last November, netted two beauties against Curacao in Scotland's farewell game before leaving for America, and again in their first games in the United States, a friendly against Bolivia last weekend.

Suddenly, Scotland look dangerous. The natural finisher that they've been crying out for has finally arrived. His goals-per-minutes return is among the best of any Scottish striker in the last half a century.

"He has a number of terrific attributes but most vital amongst them is his awareness of finding space," says McCall, "Lawrence can find spaces early and exploit them.

"The higher you go in football that trait becomes more and more important. His touch is magnificent. He's at his most effective when he starts high and drops into areas between midfield and attack.

"I hope he'd agree that the love he received from the dressing room, and the fans, at Ayr allowed him to recover his swagger. He became a leader in our dressing room and has flourished in the years since."

Shankland has just moved to Rangers, a deal the club should have done years ago. He turns 31 in August.

After all these years he now looks at home in this team and comfortable at the highest level. As Naismith says, he knows he belongs. That realisation has come at the perfect time.