Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin hopes to complete the signing of an attacking midfielder on Monday.
Goodwin’s summer rebuild is already paying dividends as the Reds stormed into the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup.
The Reds swept aside Raith Rovers 3-0 to top Group A and will now face Annan Athletic away on the midweek of August 30/31.
Marquee summer signing Bojan Miovski, a £535,000 transfer, netted just six minutes into his debut.
Goodwin aims to strengthen further ahead of Sunday’s Premiership opener against Celtic by securing an attacking midfielder within the next 24 hours.
However, one player who won’t be signing for Aberdeen is Australian international striker Martin Boyle.
Aberdonian Boyle, who plays for Al Faisaly FC in Saudi Arabia, was in the crowd at Pittodrie for the cup win.
Goodwin shot down any potential link to Boyle, who joined AL Faisely FC in a £2.5 million deal in January.
He said: “We will hopefully have a bit of news on Monday on an attacking midfielder.
“When Connor Barron is out of the team, I think we look really short in there for creativity from the midfield area.
“I would like one more attacking midfield player who is comfortable on the ball and one more attacking player.
“And I think we need a bit of left-back cover as well.
“They are the three key areas at the moment and we are working hard on them.”
Boyle not on Aberdeen’s radar
Wolves attacking midfielder Connor Ronan has been on Goodwin’s summer transfer radar.
Ronan, 24, has two years left on his deal with the Premier League outfit and has recently been at their training camp in Spain.
Wigan Athletic’s Republic of Ireland international midfielder Jamie McGrath is also a target.
That's one way to introduce yourself to the @AberdeenFC fans! 🔴
Bojan Miovski wins the penalty and blasts it emphatically into the top corner 🎯 pic.twitter.com/pY4wlNZD1U
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) July 24, 2022
Aberdeen have also been linked with former Arsenal left-back Brandon Ormond Otiwell.
The 26-year-old is a free agent having left Dutch club Excelsior, who were recently promoted to the Eredivisie.
However, Goodwin will not be launching a bid for ex-Hibs striker Boyle.
Asked if there was any significance in Boyle being at Pittodrie, he said: “Nothing atall.
“As far as I’m aware Martin’s family are Aberdeen based.
“And we don’t have the money that the Saudis have, so we will not be able to match his terms I’m afraid.”
Miovski given number nine shirt
On his debut, North Macedonian international Miovski won and converted an early penalty to make an immediate impact.
A big money signing from Hungarian club MTK Budapest, the striker signed a four year deal with the Dons.
Aberdeen beat off competition from clubs in Poland, Belgium, Russia, Hungary and Switzerland to land the striker.
Miovski was given the number nine jersey previously held by Christian Ramirez.
United States international Ramirez now has the number 99 shirt.
Goodwin revealed the number nine jersey was part of the negotiations when bidding to sign Miovski.
He said: “ A number is a number.
“It doesn’t really bother me at the end of the day.
“I think people read too much into numbers.
“When we were having the negotiations with Bojan to bring him to Aberdeen, he wanted the number nine. It’s very straightforward.
“Christian is understanding of the situation and he’s got two number nines now, so he’s happy.”
‘He only had two training sessions’
Although signed on June 28, Miovski had to wait a month to make his Dons debut due to the drawn out Visa application process.
The striker only arrived in the Granite City three days before the Raith cup tie.
Goodwin said: “You always want your centre forwards and your attacking players to get up and running early.
“I’m delighted for Bojan and the way he dispatched it was brilliant.
“He’s only had two training sessions with the group.
“Bojan was really tired at half-time but we just wanted to get another 10 or 15 minutes into his legs.
“He’s nowhere near as sharp as he needs to be.
“Bojan needs to do things a little bit quicker at times in possession.
“But that’s only natural for a guy who’s so far behind the rest of the group.”
All the pressure on Aberdeen
Aberdeen topped Group A with a 100 percent record of four wins from four.
The restructured Reds scored 12 goals without reply to storm into the last 16.
Opponents Annan earned a clash with the Dons by topping Group F, ahead of Premiership St Johnstone.
Goodwin said: “Like the previous four games in this cup, the level of expectation will be on us because we are the Premiership team going down there.
“There will be no pressure on Annan.”
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