‘If you had a squad of Ramadanis you’d be alright’: Jim Goodwin hails Aberdeen midfielder, as he also gives Connor Barron contract update

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin says every manager would love to have a player like midfielder Ylber Ramadani.

The Albanian international has impressed since joining the Dons from MTK Budapest in the summer.

The 26-year-old produced another assured display in helping the Dons record a 2-1 win against Motherwell to move up to third in the Premiership table.

Goodwin says the defensive midfielder has already shown he is ready to go the extra mile for the Aberdeen cause.

The Dons boss said: “Ramadani is the type of player that every manager wished they had in their team and in their squad.

“He’s a real team player who gives his all in every training session.

“When we monitor the data and get it through from the sport scientists we see that Ramadani runs further than anybody every day in training.

“He runs further than anybody on a match day. Some of that is position related and it’s what you expect from a midfielder, but he’s very consistent with it.

“His reading of the game and his anticipation in knowing where to be in times of danger is fantastic.

“He’s still only 26 years old, which is a great age – as he’s coming into the big years of his career.

“He’s an Albanian international, just a top, top player, but – even more so – he’s an even better person.

“He’s a diamond of a boy to work with. If you had a squad of Ramadanis, you’d be doing alright. Believe me.”

No panic over Barron’s deal

Dons chairman Dave Cormack last week confirmed the club has made “a significant offer” to midfielder Connor Barron to remain at Pittodrie.

The 20-year-old is under contract until the summer of 2024 and Goodwin is relaxed about the situation.

He said: “We have had some really good conversations with Connor’s representatives.

“He had been out injured for a long time, we are trying to manage him properly and make sure there’s no reoccurrence of that knee injury and ask too much of him.

“Connor has played pretty much every game for me when he’s been available. Hopefully, that’s a situation we can get sorted sooner rather than later, but there’s no mad panic with it.

“Connor knows what we think. I want him to focus on his football and do the best he can. The contract situation will be left to the director of football and Connor’s agent.”

The Dons boss, meanwhile, believes his players will become quickly accustomed to playing matches with video assistant referees.

VAR was used for the first time in Scottish football at the weekend and didn’t take long into Aberdeen’s meeting at Motherwell to prove its worth.

Bojan Miovski’s early goal was initially disallowed for offside before replays showed the assistant referee had got a tight call wrong.

Goodwin said: “I was at a meeting with Crawford Allan and our director of football Steven Gunn and other clubs to see how the system works. The level of detail was good.

“I’ve taken some of that back to the staff and players. I don’t want to bog them down too much with what’s going to happen.

“They’ve watched enough EPL that they know how it’s going to work.

“They know they’re going to have to be extra careful defensively in and around set-plays – manhandling each other. There’s a lot of that goes on at set-plays.

“But I think they are excited as me with the opportunity to get to grips with it.”