Aberdeen look set to receive an answer soon on their bid to sign Graeme Shinnie from Wigan Athletic.
The Dons have offered a three-year contract to Shinnie in a bid to get the influential midfielder to return to Pittodrie this summer.
Shinnie, 31, captained the Dons to a third-placed Premiership finish and European qualification while on loan from Wigan last season.
When Shinnie was recently asked if he wanted to return to Aberdeen, the midfielder replied: “That is a bit obvious”.
Wigan returned for pre-season training this week and Latics manager Shaun Maloney has confirmed he is determined to “resolve” issues with players who want to leave.
Cults-raised Maloney said: “There are people who are here who don’t want to be here at the football club.
“Anyone who wants to be at another football club, that’s obviously a situation that has to be resolved.
“But that’s pretty normal, that was always going to happen this summer, players come and go.
“The squad will change, but there will also be a lot of players from last season’s squad that I want to stay.”
Maloney sanctioning player exits
It is understood Wigan are open to selling Shinnie to Aberdeen, but it would take a six-figure sum to land the Scotland international.
Shinnie has a year left on his contract with the Latics, recently relegated to League One.
There were fears Aberdeen’s bid to sign Shinnie could be affected by a potential transfer embargo on Wigan.
The Latics will begin League One on minus-eight points due to recent financial problems.
Wigan faced a transfer embargo by the English Football League due to HMRC-related matters and there were concerns Maloney would be unlikely to sanction a deal for Shinnie until he knew whether or not he could sign players.
However, that situation has been rectified as local businessman Mike Danson has bought Wigan and paid off all of their outstanding debts.
Danson, who owns a 25 percent stake in rugby league club Wigan Warriors, assumed control from Abdulrahman Al Jasmi and Talal Al Hammad.
Maloney has now began signing new additions and sanctioning the departure of players.
He has already given the green light to the exit of winger Anthony Scully to Portsmouth and midfielder Tom Naylor to Chesterfield in recent days.
Shinnie could be next.
Maloney said: “Already we’ve seen some changes to the squad, and there will be more between now and the start of the season.”
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