Aberdeen loan signing Florian Kamberi has been cleared to face St Mirren at Pittodrie tomorrow.
Dons boss Derek McInnes had been confident the Reds would win the race to get a work permit for the Albanian, allowing Kamberi to make his delayed debut.
McInnes swooped to secure Kamberi on a loan deal from Swiss side St Gallen for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately Kamberi was unavailable for the defeats to Hibernian and Livingston as he was stranded in Switzerland.
Kamberi is now in the Granite City, but has been unable to train with the Dons.
The 25-year-old is “bursting” to lead the line tomorrow, according to McInnes, and will now be available to train today and play against the Buddies.
Yesterday, McInnes said: “Florian is here, but he still has not trained with us yet so we are still waiting for confirmation if he will be available for the weekend.
“As it stands there are still a few things to get done.
“We are trying all we can.
“The boy is bursting, but he cannot even get into his kit and get training with the players.
“We just have to wait and see how things develop.
“Hopefully we can get some good news on that front.”
McInnes was confident Kamberi would receive the necessary paperwork to play for the Dons, although he admitted the process has been drawn out longer than anticipated by Brexit and Covid-19 travel restrictions.
McInnes said: “There have been channels and ways you could maybe try to push these things along.
“However, in the current circumstances with the Covid issue, these things are delayed, as most things are.
“We do not anticipate any issues in terms of him being allowed to work here or not.
“We feel that Florian has met the criteria for all that.
“It is really just the time, trying to get these things through. Although he has been in the country with us – we knew he’d be allowed to fly in here on Wednesday, and that was the case.
“However, there are still a few hoops to jump through to get him on the pitch and get him even training with us, which is important.
“We feel confident about the whole scenario and navigating our way through it. It is a bit frustrating, but that’s the risk when you leave it so late.”
Kamberi has not had any game time since starting in the 0-0 draw with Lugano in the Swiss Super League on December 16.
He had two seasons at Hibernian and also spent the second half of last season on loan at Rangers.
McInnes sweats on Fraser Hornby for Buddies clash
Kamberi was one of three loan strikers secured on a hectic transfer deadline day as McInnes moved to bolster his attack.
In a complete revamp of the forward options, Fraser Hornby, a £1.8 million signing by Stade de Reims from Everton last summer, was acquired from the French club.
Hornby – all-time leading scorer for Scotland U21s – has started the last two games against Hibs and Livingston.
St Johnstone striker Callum Hendry was also secured on loan until the end of the campaign and featured off the bench against both Hibs and Livingston.
McInnes revealed Hornby may not be available for tomorrow’s crunch clash with St Mirren.
Hornby has missed training this week through illness, although McInnes hopes he will be fit enough to participate in training today and face the Buddies.
With Aberdeen on a four-game run without a goal, McInnes desperately needs his new strikers to start scoring.
He said: “This week Fraser Hornby has not been well as he had a bit of a bug. He has not trained, but hopefully he will train today with us.
“Needs must, we need to try and get our players on the pitch, particularly those forward players. We could do with some good news on Kamberi.”
🔴⚪️ Would switching to a back four and the return of Niall McGinn to the team help Aberdeen create more chances and get them scoring again?
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