Sights set on a swift return in Dark Blue

his manager, Craig Levein, who endured a similarly rough time with injuries as a player.

“I think the manager understands, especially with my Achilles, I think that was similar to his knee,” reflects Souttar. “This hip one was just a clean-up job. “With the Achilles he said: ‘Make sure you take your time and come back right. Don’t do anything silly or take risks coming back.’ He was supportive.”

Hearts’ sports scientist Mikey Williams and physio Craig Maitland were also key figures during the intensive winter shutdown days of Souttar’s recovery.

He is reaping the benefitsof that – and has targets for both club and country between now and the end of the season.

“I’d be delighted if I could get back involved in the national team,” he says.

“The next game isn’t until the end of March, so there’s a lot of game-time for Hearts until then. I’m sure if I keep doing what I’m doing for Hearts, well, we’ll see what happens.

“Peter Grant, the gaffer (Alex Mcleish, below) and James Mcfadden all texted and phoned me when I got injured.

“They were really supportive and that meant a lot.

“I think there’s a good opportunity for Scotland to qualify for a finals now, and it’s a really young squad as well.

“There’s experience there, but it’s the youngest squad we’ve had for a while. It feels like there’s a lot of good players coming through, which can only be good for Scottish football in general. “Me and Scott Mckenna were in quite young and a lot of boys from that team are coming through now, so we all know each other, which is a good thing as well.

“We have spent a lot of time together on trips, which helps. It can only be good for the squad as a whole.”

On Hearts, Souttar is no less confident – and no less demanding.

“The European place is what we said from the start of the season, we need to get into Europe,” he insists. “That’s the main aim and, obviously, the semi-final of the League Cup was disappointing but a lot of boys were injured.

“With the Scottish Cup, we’ll just see what happens, the quarter-final is at the start of March.

“There aren’t many targets set, but obviously we want to be in finals and stuff like that, so that would be ideal but the European place is our first priority.”