Former Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has said he knew after the first day of pre-season training that Lewis Ferguson was destined for a great career in football.
Ferguson joined the Dons from Hamilton Accies in 2018 and went on to become a pivotal player under McInnes at Pittodrie.
The 24-year-old, who moved from the Dons to Bologna in 2022, has been linked with Juventus and AC Milan as well as several English Premier League sides after impressing in Serie A.
McInnes is unsurprised by the success Ferguson is enjoying in Italy.
In an interview with Open Goal, he said: “On the first day of pre-season we were doing testing.
“We went indoor to the Sports Village as we wanted a true surface to do the bleep test.
“(Graeme) Shinnie would normally beat everyone – him and (Ryan) Jack.
“But on the first day Lewis was thinking ‘Nobody is beating me.’
“You could see Shinnie going ‘Who is this wee guy?’
“Lewis went right to the end and was the last man standing.
“He looked like a boy who was here to make his mark.
“I wasn’t sure if he would start straightaway but if you are paying £220,000 for a young player – even at Aberdeen – he has got to play.
“But it surprised me how he adapted to it.
“He was my best player in training, my best finisher at times, he was my fittest and strongest player.
“He did everything to the letter.”
Winning mentality shone through
McInnes, now manager of Kilmarnock, said Ferguson’s will to win convinced him to bring the player to Pittodrie – and said the Scotland international never once let him down during his time with the Dons.
He said: “I thought he would go on and have a good career.
“I had seen him play for Hamilton against the Aberdeen youth team a couple of times.
“I liked him and I went down and watched him in a cup game.
“We went down to 10 men and we scored in the last couple of minutes to go in front.
“I thought he was brilliant all game.
“He was trying to take us on single-handedly.
“Every time the ball went wide he was running by his centre forward to get in the box.
“Then he was sprinting to get back and fill in.
“He was a boy who was doing everything right to the letter.
“I remember they took centre after losing that goal and the ball got hit on the diagonal and he just laid one on our left-back who was maybe Daniel Harvie.
“He only leathered him because he was frustrated and angry. I think he got a yellow card.
“He showed a sheer will to win and not let the situation go without putting everything out there.
“I’m not signing him because he threw an elbow into someone’s face but it was just the competitiveness of him.
“I saw enough of him as a midfielder.
“I played him as a centre-half in one game, I played him as a centre forward and he loved it and thought he was Diego Costa – he wasn’t.
“I played him as a 6, as an 8 and as a 10.
“I could have played him anywhere and he would have done the job. I trusted him picking up the best strikers in the league, whether it was Morelos or Edouard, at set-pieces.
“Sometimes if I was running out of size I would tell him to pick up the big centre-half and he would do that with no bother.
“He never once let me down.”
Aberdeen will be due a percentage of any transfer fee Bologna receive for Ferguson if he is sold – but McInnes believes remaining with the Italian club until the end of the season may be best for his continued development.
He said: “Normally the teams who pay over the top in January come from the English Premier League.
“If he moves in January it will be to England.
“But I think it would be a good thing for him to stay at Bologna this season.
“If he keeps going on the trajectory he is on then he is going to have plenty of options.
“Good players always have good options.”
When asked if Ferguson is the best player he has managed, McInnes said: “I get asked a lot who is the best player I have managed.
“It’s a hard one.
“I wanted to build the team around Ryan Jack when I first went in.
“He had been playing at right-back a lot of times previously but I thought he was a different level of midfielder to what we had.
“Kenny McLean was brilliant for me. It was £170,000 from St Mirren and he was outstanding.
“There have been loads whether that is free agents or players you have paid a bit of money for.
“Fergie would be right up there, just because of the boy himself.
“And the story hasn’t stopped, he still has loads to do and you just know he is going to do it.”
