Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie has given a strong hint he could be back at Pittodrie next season.
Shinnie joined the Dons for his second spell in January, arriving on loan from English Championship side Wigan until the end of the season.
The 31-year-old – who was Aberdeen’s captain before he left the club for Derby County in 2019 – was given the armband upon his return to the Reds and skippered the side to third place with one game to spare via Wednesday’s 3-0 win over St Mirren.
Midfielder Shinnie scored either side of half-time in the win against the Buddies – his first goals since returning – which secured the Dons’ potentially-lucrative return to European football.
His contract with parent club Wigan, who were relegated to League One after finishing bottom of the Championship, runs until June 2024, but Shinnie has talked up his “passion” for Aberdeen.
He said: “We still have one game to go and then I will have a holiday with my wife and two kids to switch off for a bit. We will then see what happens.
“There is stuff to be dealt with, in terms of where I will be. That will be dealt with over the summer.
“Right now, I am a Wigan player at the end of the loan spell. We will wait and see.
“I love it here and it feels like home here. I am captain and I love the club.
“You can see that with the passion I have for the club, but we will wait and see.”
When pressed if he does want to come back to Aberdeen next season, Shinnie added: “That is a bit obvious.
“It’s one of those – let’s see what happens.
“I can’t say anything here or there because it is still up in the air.
“We still have the season to finish and that is what I am focusing on, and then we can sort it out and we will see what happens.”
It is understood Wigan will demand a six-figure fee from the Dons to land Shinnie permanently.
Shinnie delighted to make impact on return from suspension
Against St Mirren, Shinnie returned to the Aberdeen squad after a four-game suspension.
He admits his spell on the sidelines – following a controversial red card at Ross County and even more contentious extra game being added to his ban by an SFA appeals panel – was a frustrating one, but was happy to make an impact with a brace in his first game back.
Shinnie added: “It was four weeks building up.
“There was frustration, watching the team and not being able to help. It has been tough, but I knew coming in to this game what it meant.
“We were hoping other results would go our way, but we were also focusing on our own game.
“I wanted to try and help the team, which is something I haven’t been able to do in the last four games.
“I was desperate to push them on and thankfully I was able to do that and happy days.”
Shinnie added: “It was four games, but almost six weeks. It was longer than what I would have had off in the summer.
“Some of the games were good to watch – Rangers, especially, when you are winning. But the Hibs one (0-0 draw) was tough to watch.
“When things are going right and the team isn’t playing as well as we know they can, and I am watching on and can’t help them, that is frustrating.
“The lads have done well and it has been a remarkable turnaround from where we were in January.
“I am just delighted for everybody, the staff players and everybody at the club.”
Shinnie hails young Dons squad’s character
When Shinnie returned to Aberdeen, securing third place and European football looked like a near-impossible task, but a remarkable seven-game winning streak helped propel the Dons’ back up to third.
Shinnie says he always believed the Reds’ could change their fortunes, and beat rivals Hearts to the Premiership’s best-of-the-rest berth behind Celtic and Rangers.
He said: “We were confident in turning our form around.
“Obviously, Hearts were on a good run and we were more than 10 points ahead.
“Looking at that and even to finish fourth, we would have been happy with that, but it just shows the form we have been on.
“It is testament to the boys for the hard work they have put in and for the staff and manager that has come in.
“Being able to turn that around has been brilliant.
“It is still a young squad. There are still a few old heads in Jonny (Hayes) and Joe (Lewis) and maybe not me yet, but I am getting there.
“There are wise heads as well, but it is a young squad and to have the character to turn their form around has been brilliant and I am absolutely delighted for everyone.”
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