Christ, I must be slipping up now that I've commenced my seventh decade as I started last summer's one back in mid March 2022 much to Rico's annoyance.

Anyway, here goes, the exact date the window will open has yet to be announced but will be at some point in early June meaning we are potentially only just over six weeks away.

If we thought last year's one was busy, then I think its fair to say there is going to be a fair old churn this summer as well.

Difficult to forecast too much at this point given amongst other minor things we don't actually know who'll be in charge next season, but lets not let that stop us speculating too much.

Rumours in the papers suggesting we're still after the lad from Go Ahead Eagles that we came close to signing in January.

There will be all the usual chat about who's leaving and how much we'll rake in in fees, so knock yourselves out and get them fired in here lads. 

11 hours ago, DantheDon said:

Sounds like a rumor in the same vein as the one that Kieren Tierney would be going back to them. Scott Mckenna starts every week for a pl team when fit. Generally that means his value is £20 million+ at his age and there is no way Celtic will pay that for him. 

Tim mate thinks it's bollocks as they've a bid in for a swedish defender. So I'd say it's very much that.

Wouldn't mind O'Hara or Baccus. Though he is a dirty Siddneeeeeyy bastard 😬

Everything has gone a bit quiet. Was hoping we might be getting close to concluding a few more deals. No more word on that kiwi lad either. 

11 minutes ago, DantheDon said:

Everything has gone a bit quiet. Was hoping we might be getting close to concluding a few more deals. No more word on that kiwi lad either. 

McGarry is on his way.

His partner has popped but assume the sprog and her aren't heading over right away 

Next announcement is one out rather than the expected/hoped incoming.

 

Burrows tweeting mcgarry a done deal

Good.Seems to be more of an attacking left back,less so a defending one.Hoping we intend adding Scales or another left sided defender.

 Welcome Kiwi 👍

Listened to 10 minutes of Dave Cormack's interview with Graham Spiers. I'll listen to the rest tomorrow.

He said they're still very much interested in Liam Scales but are waiting to see if Celtic want to sell, loan or keep him.

He also suggested the only reason they lost out on Teklic was because of wages - the Turkish club offered him a huge salary Aberdeen couldn't get near. Other than that, in terms of transfer fee and the player's desire to come here, the Dons thought they had him.

Been quite amusing seeing the number of mentions poor Burrows gets on Twitter. Fair fucks to the guy for responding to as many as he does! Am I a bit concerned with what’s left, yes, but sure as hell don’t think the club aren’t aware of it 😂

2 hours ago, manc_don said:

Been quite amusing seeing the number of mentions poor Burrows gets on Twitter. Fair fucks to the guy for responding to as many as he does! Am I a bit concerned with what’s left, yes, but sure as hell don’t think the club aren’t aware of it 😂

Yep, genuinely astonishing the number of people who think buying players is like going shopping in Tesco.

 

A few folk saying we don't really need Scales or another left sided CB. What we need to remember is that this is the first time Aberdeen have EVER had 8 guaranteed European ties to play before Christmas. This is like adding roughly 20% to the number of matches to your season (give or take depending upon success in domestic cups) but in reality it is more than that as you have travel and the intensity of the matches to take into account. This is why you need a big squad to cope with injuries, fatigue and poor form. Hearts suffered badly at the start of last season when they were playing in Europe and they ran out of puff at the end of the season too. This is why it is key that we put together a big squad that is not just made up of journeymen. Scales would be exactly the sort of player we need.

 

Fair comment.Scales will probably cost more than I/we'd like at this time,but he knows the club,and we know what he can do.A lot of folks say we could get better for less elsewhere,but they rarely offer examples of who.

  Saying that,I wouldnt like us to go higher than the original £700k for him that he was reported to be worth,which seems to be the current stumbling block

1 hour ago, Chris Frae Killie said:

A few folk saying we don't really need Scales or another left sided CB. What we need to remember is that this is the first time Aberdeen have EVER had 8 guaranteed European ties to play before Christmas. This is like adding roughly 20% to the number of matches to your season (give or take depending upon success in domestic cups) but in reality it is more than that as you have travel and the intensity of the matches to take into account. This is why you need a big squad to cope with injuries, fatigue and poor form. Hearts suffered badly at the start of last season when they were playing in Europe and they ran out of puff at the end of the season too. This is why it is key that we put together a big squad that is not just made up of journeymen. Scales would be exactly the sort of player we need.

 

Scales would be a great signing because he's a known quantity. I wouldn't want him on loan because there's a strong chance - based on his age and just his general development last season - that this will be the season where he establishes himself as a player, and I feel we'd just be benefitting Celtic by having him here. The point about not needing another left sided CB is simply one of priority. We've got our target in Scales, and I'd far rather we focused on the midfield first before concerning ourselves with the hunt for another centre back. In an ideal world, we can focus on both - and maybe that's the case - but if there's any sort of prioritisation then, in my opinion, we should focusing our efforts on three or four midfield choices from which to get two (one being a number ten). If that means we either don't get a LCB, or we grab a random EPL loanee, then that's probably okay. Panda insists that Williams is an amazing left sided defender, so that's good enough for me. The other point to consider is that we moved to a back four on Sunday, which would mean a defender less to concern ourselves with (although that's probably more reason to get Scales!). Basically, if we're choosing to commit to a midfielder, or a defender that isn't Scales, then go all out for the midfielder.

1 hour ago, Chris Frae Killie said:

A few folk saying we don't really need Scales or another left sided CB. What we need to remember is that this is the first time Aberdeen have EVER had 8 guaranteed European ties to play before Christmas. This is like adding roughly 20% to the number of matches to your season (give or take depending upon success in domestic cups) but in reality it is more than that as you have travel and the intensity of the matches to take into account. This is why you need a big squad to cope with injuries, fatigue and poor form. Hearts suffered badly at the start of last season when they were playing in Europe and they ran out of puff at the end of the season too. This is why it is key that we put together a big squad that is not just made up of journeymen. Scales would be exactly the sort of player we need.

 

Nail on head mate.

Sums it up perfectly

Squad has huge gaps and is paper thin.

My only issue with the Scales scenario as I have previously stated is being held over a barrel and being royally rogered by The Tims.

2 hours ago, BigAl said:

Nail on head mate.

Sums it up perfectly

Squad has huge gaps and is paper thin.

My only issue with the Scales scenario as I have previously stated is being held over a barrel and being royally rogered by The Tims.

Robson says 3 or 4, I really hope it's 4 because we are defo going to need the cover.  Depressingly there are still 17 days of the window left and we haven't even hit the playing chicken part of it yet. It's frustrating as hell but we have to not only be patient but accept it's a very real possibility that we don't see a lot of movement until the window is about to close. The result in the first leg of the euro qualifier could  have some effect on our business as well perhaps. 

 

On the flip side though we are able now to operate in a market of a standard higher than any we have operated in probably since the early 90's.  Add to that the club does seem to be showing cause to have a little faith in their transfer acumen.  I've not seen enough/any of sokler, mcgarry and Williams but I like what I see of Devlin and rubezic.  Shinnie, Clarkson and MacDonald speak for themselves.  All things considered, especially given the calibre of player we can actually go for at this moment, this could yet be our best window since the transfer window became a thing. 

Edited August 14, 20232 yr by tlg1903

3 hours ago, BigAl said:

Nail on head mate.

Sums it up perfectly

Squad has huge gaps and is paper thin.

My only issue with the Scales scenario as I have previously stated is being held over a barrel and being royally rogered by The Tims.

Correct, thin squad and gaps, but scales position is not the huge gap. We can play a back 3 or 4, and have multiple options. We have minimal depth in center mid, virtually no wingers, and very little creativity. Given our finances are so limited, scales is a luxury we don’t ultimately need. Injuries to clarkson, shinnie for example, we are pretty fucked. When we need creativity it’s pretty much clarkson and that’s it. We need to invest further up the field, we have way more depth in defense than midfield.

10 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Given our finances are so limited

Are they? COVID set us back a bit, but Dave has said multiple times we don't need to sell. Selling Ramadani to me sounds like a price came in for him that we simply didn't see coming, and was well above our own internal valuation of him. 

Ramsay and Fergies sales would've somewhat offset our COVID debt, maybe someone closer to our finances can advise whether they are indeed limited 

Gustaf Lagerbielke due to arrive in Glasgow today to sign for Celtic. He's a left sided central defender.

I would imagine once he's signed up then Liam Scales will become available.

1 hour ago, Reekie_Red said:

Are they? COVID set us back a bit, but Dave has said multiple times we don't need to sell. Selling Ramadani to me sounds like a price came in for him that we simply didn't see coming, and was well above our own internal valuation of him. 

Ramsay and Fergies sales would've somewhat offset our COVID debt, maybe someone closer to our finances can advise whether they are indeed limited 

No they are not.  We were in the black before we sold Rama and Mcrorie according to cormack and we have 6 million give or take to come in from euro group stage football.  Teclic was defo going to be a 7 figure sum as well I might add.  In short we have some money to play with and will to spend it. 

Good to see Rhys Williams lining up for the development team tonight.

10 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

Are they? COVID set us back a bit, but Dave has said multiple times we don't need to sell. Selling Ramadani to me sounds like a price came in for him that we simply didn't see coming, and was well above our own internal valuation of him. 

Ramsay and Fergies sales would've somewhat offset our COVID debt, maybe someone closer to our finances can advise whether they are indeed limited 

I’m more meaning we have limited funds, not endless. There are other areas that need strengthened before adding another defender. Would be happy to get scales but happier to get the scales equivalent in center mid, attacking mid, or wide midfield.

1 hour ago, manc_don said:

Good to see Rhys Williams lining up for the development team tonight.

Not good to see us concede 5 goals though. Is that Jack McKenzie playing in defence or another McKenzie?

21 minutes ago, Slim said:

Not good to see us concede 5 goals though. Is that Jack McKenzie playing in defence or another McKenzie?

Another McKenzie. 
 

Alfie Stewart, Bavidge and Marshall with Dons goals in 5-3 defeat. 
 

Williams was booked in second half according to Peterhead match report. 

Southampton and Leeds allegedly looking at Duk

4 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

Southampton and Leeds allegedly looking at Duk

Would be gutting if he went before the season starts. I did think that his TV performance on Sunday might raise this issue though.

No reason to sell him on the cheap though. If we do sell it's likely benfica will take a hefty chunk of it. He must be worth 5 million+.