Aberdeen midfielder Niall McGinn is ready to commit his future to the club.
The Northern Ireland international is out of contract at the end of the season but is ready to begin talks about a new deal after expressing his desire to stay at Pittodrie.
McGinn, who scored his club’s first league goal of the season in their 2-1 win against Partick Thistle on Saturday, is in no rush to leave Pittodrie.
He said: “I spoke to the manager before the Euros but I wanted to get that out of the way and the European games done and the season up and running first. I am sure we will get something sorted out soon.
“I’m in the last year of my contract but I’ve enjoyed my time here and long may it continue. I’m close to 60 goals here and I want to keep plugging away and score a few more.”
The former Celtic midfielder showed his value to the club with a fine free kick to open the scoring against the Jags and hopes his goal will earn him another chance at free kicks on a regular basis.
He said: “I was working on my free kicks during the week. Peter Pawlett felt confident he could hit the target and score but he was unlucky with his effort. When the second one came up I wanted to have a go and I was delighted to see it hit the back of the net. Hopefully, that’s me on free kicks for another week at least.
“We’ve been working on things such as working a better angle to get a cross. We could have got a few more goals which would have meant not inviting pressure on us towards the end, but we got two goals which was good.”
The win sets the Dons up nicely for a Parkhead test on Saturday when they face champions Celtic for the first time this season.
McGinn believes it is a game his side can face with confidence.
He said: “We’ve shown over the last couple of seasons we’re more capable of beating Celtic. They’ve strengthened and have brought in a great manager and we are under no illusions as to how difficult it will be. But it’s nice for us and we will be confident against them.
“We’ve got experience from the European games which will help us at Parkhead. It will be a tough game but one we are looking forward to. Since I arrived we have improved massively every year and we want to maintain that consistency on the pitch.”
