Hearts give major Ageu injury update ahead of Hibs clash and react to Scotland call-up decisions

Gordon has not played a competitive game since April due to neck and hamstring issues, but the 42-year-old is now fully fit and played in a bounce match for Hearts on Tuesday. And with Scotland’s options limited in terms of goalkeepers, manager Steve Clarke has called up the 81-cap veteran to compete with Angus Gunn and Liam Kelly for the gloves ahead of facing Greece and Belarus at Hampden on October 9 and 12 respectively.

Shankland has not played for Scotland since November last year when he came on as a substitute against Poland. Capped 16 times by his country, his dip in Hearts form last season resulted in him losing his place in Clarke’s squad and he has not featured since.

The 30-year-old, however, has started this season strongly, netting seven goals - including a brace against Rangers at Ibrox. He is captain of a Hearts side currently unbeaten and top of the Premiership.

McInnes revealed that he took a call from Clarke earlier in the week to ascertain Gordon’s level of fitness, with the national team boss deciding to bring him in ahead of his Hearts teammate Zander Clark, who drops out of the squad that was picked to play Denmark and Belarus in early September.

“I spoke with Steve yesterday and he was looking to find out exactly how fit Craig was,” said McInnes. “Craig managed to do some handling last Thursday. At the start of last week, things weren't clear about where his fitness was.

“We'd even thought about sending him for a further scan. He did some handling. He trained Friday. He did some one-to-one with [goalkeeping coach] Paul Gallacher on Saturday. He had Sunday off and he's trained yesterday. He's going to be playing a little friendly game today, 45 minutes.

“As far as we're concerned, Craig's fit. We'd be more than happy if he was going to be involved with the squad, if that was the case.”

McInnes has his say on Shankland’s Scotland omission

McInnes said he was “not surprised” to learn that Shankland had not made the 23-man Scotland squad but expressed hope that his skipper would force his way back into the reckoning. He is currently behind Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes, George Hirst and Kieron Bowie in the pecking order.

“I'd like Lawrence to be involved with the squad,” continued McInnes. “I think it's important that all these Scottish players who have been there and thereabout are motivated to be part of the World Cup. Hopefully we can get there. The results have been there and I think it's a huge carrot for any player to be involved in. Lawrence is no different.

“Lawrence's game is in such a good place. You see him, he is strutting about Tynecastle as if he owns the place. His game is so confident. His goal [against Falkirk last weekend] epitomises that.

“He's been first class for us. Obviously, he's got a job to do. Hopefully in time, Lawrence will get himself involved.”

With one round of Premiership fixtures ahead of the international break, McInnes’ thoughts are firmly on Saturday’s Edinburgh derby at home to Hibs. Hearts remain undefeated in the league after six matches and lead Celtic at the summit by two points.

McInnes, however, will have to do without the services of club record signing Ageu, with the manager confirming that the Brazilian midfielder will not be back until the Kilmarnock match on October 18 at the earliest.

A seven-figure signing from Portuguese side Santa Clara, Ageu made his debut against Livingston as a substitute on August 30 but has since suffered a hamstring complaint. He has not featured since, but McInnes is looking forward to welcoming him back after the international break.

“He's not going to make this one,” said McInnes. “We always knew it was a wee bit of a long shot. His scan results were really healthy in terms of going along as we'd hoped. He'll use the international break in the week, building up to the next one after that. We can really top up that work.

“Hopefully, this will be the last game he’s not available for. We'll see where we go from there. We've got no injuries from the weekend, so we're as we were.”

McInnes also gave an update on reserve goalkeeper Ryan Fulton. “Ryan's probably going to be out for another six weeks or so,” he added. “He's got a significant injury. We've not had all our keepers fit. We've not had Craig fit. Bringing Alex [Schwolow] in was 100 per cent the right decision.

“We're pleased with what Alex has given us. But when everybody's fit, then obviously we've got a lot of good goalkeepers.”