Craig Gordon: Goalkeeper wants Scotland return as he weighs up club future
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Craig Gordon pulls off a save to deny Roman Bezjak in Scotland's World Cup qualifier against Slovenia in 2017.
Goalkeeper Craig Gordon's prime motivation in deciding the next move in his career is to force his way back in to the Scotland team.
The 37-year-old is out of contract with Celtic, who have offered him reduced terms, and has spoken with Hearts.
Gordon said he is driven by Scotland being "a couple of games away from qualifying for a major finals".
"The only way I can try to force my way back in to Steve Clarke's thoughts would be to play football," he said.
"That's always going to be a main thing for me to think about, the financial aspect not so much.
"I still have ambitions to get back in to the Scotland squad and perhaps even challenge for the number one spot to try and get to a finals."
Scotland face Israel at Hampden in a Euro 2020 play-off semi-final in October. Victory in that would leave a final against Serbia or Norway away to clinch a first appearance at a major finals since the World Cup in France in 1998.
Gordon won the last of his 54 international appearances in a 3-1 home defeat by Portugal in October 2018.
In the season halted by coranavirus in March, he made only six first-team appearances for Celtic, four of which were in European competition, as Fraser Forster became Neil Lennon's established goalkeeper.
But, speaking to BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound, the former Hearts and Sunderland keeper insisted he had much left to offer, especially having had a two-year spell out of the game injured.
"I'm well over 500 games in my career and I don't want to stop now," he said.
"You want to test yourself against the best players and I want to continue to do that.
"I'm feeling as well as I have done in the last five years. I've worked hard in lockdown. I do realise that time is running out for me but I'm still hoping I've got a good few years left in my body."
Gordon feels he is out of contract "at the worst possible time" and fears for many lower-league players' futures.
However, he is hoping to have his club future confirmed in the "next week or so".
"There's been a bit of interest, especially from [clubs in] Scotland, so I'm very thankful. I'm very happy with how things have gone in the past few days.
"Hearts are definitely a club I've been speaking to."