Dons manager may have to sell leading pittodrie player for greater good of his reds team
By Michael Gannon
Published: 05/08/2009
Aberdeen manager Mark McGhee will sacrifice one of his best players to fund his Pittodrie rebuilding programme.
McGhee wants to keep hold of the likes of Lee Miller, Jamie Langfield, Zander Diamond and Sone Aluko. But the failure to reach the group stages of the Europa League and a constricted budget mean he may be forced to cash in for the greater good of his side.
He said: “I spoke to Willie Miller and Stewart Milne and you have to be open-minded and look at every option. You have to look at what you need to do and that includes selling players.
“I am prepared to be creative. If I have to lose one to get in another three who will improve us as a team then I have to be prepared to do it.
“I have not been unhappy with the attitude or the general quality of the squad but I think we are lacking in several positions and to fill those maybe I will have to sacrifice somewhere else.
“There has been no interest. I think we would have to initiate it by saying people are available and that would mean the best players.
“We have a shortlist of players we could get in today but we want to make sure we get the best we can. There is a bit of urgency and desperation starting to creep in as we need someone by the Celtic game but are going to make sure we get the best we can with the money available and we will keep looking for as long as it takes.â€
McGhee and the Dons squad depart this morning for tomorrow’s Europa League second leg against Sigma Olomouc in the Czech Republic. They will leave defender Zander Diamond behind as the centre back has not recovered from an Achilles injury and is a major doubt to be fit in time for the SPL kick-off against Celtic on August 15.
McGhee said: “Zander won’t play before the Celtic game and the question is whether he will be fit for that. Hopefully, he will be training by the start of the week as he is an important player for us. He has a big influence in both penalty boxes, so we would love to have him fit for the first league game.
“We would probably end up still risking him for the Celtic game even if he can’t train too much. But, hopefully, we have got someone in by then who will give us some help at the back.â€
McGhee’s European objectives have changed after last week’s first leg 5-1 defeat. He is now looking to use tomorrow’s match, as well as Sunday’s Dean Windass testimonial at Hull City, as pre-paration for the SPL opener.
He said: “The aim is to salvage some pride and see if we can take that forward into the game against Celtic. I think it would be a bit unrealistic to expect a total transformation of performance in the space of a week.
“We have got the same squad, so we can switch things to get the best out of the group we have got.
“We will pick the best 11 outfield players we think can get us a result and we will try to make ourselves more difficult to beat.â€
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