Panda

As for Boyce, he's a similar player to Watkins. He's not been playing as an out-and-out striker for them, but cutting inside off the wing. Would be interesting with Watkins and Boyce in the same team for sure.

I won't make a habit of posting my articles on here, but decided to start an Aberdeen blog. Gives me a bit more freedom to write what I like than I get in the day job. Anyway, pored over Anthony Stewart and Liam Scales performances last season, compared them to Gallagher and Bates, put two and two together and got three. https://ullevi83.substack.com/p/do-aberdeens-new-signings-suggest

Point one: We "borrowed" Callum Hendry from St Johnstone. Point two: Celtic are better than us. And they'll be better than us next season, not because we're loa...sorry, borrowing Liam Scales, but because they're about to land £30m+ from the Champions League and can sign whoever they frigging want.

Are those players ready for first team football though? Obviously, like everyone I'd prefer if it was a permanent deal, but if he's a good player then he's better being in our team than on Celtic's bench. We're still after another centre half (Anthony Stewart it seems) so it's not the end of our business yet anyway.

The season starts in two weeks. Get him in on loan, hopefully he has a good season. If we can do a deal in 12 months, great. If not, we've apparently two good centre halves coming through the ranks. Or, after Scales heads the winner v Hearts in the Scottish Cup final to seal a £4m European football bonanza, we can buy better next summer. The whole "developing a player for Celtic", I'm not arsed at the moment. I want us to have a good season after four years of dross. We need a left centre back, we've now got one.

But 500k + 750k in wages is a hell of an outlay for a relatively untested lad.

The issue with buying him permanently is he has three years left on his contract at Celtic worth about £750,000 which he probably expects to get. Not only are Celtic reluctant to sell, we'd need to make Scales one of our highest earners, as well as pay a transfer fee to Celtic.

So McCrorie into midfield then? Made it into the National League team of the season last season (which, to be fair, is the least I'd expect of an Aberdeen signing playing at that level.) General consensus is he's terrific going forward but can't defend. Perfect signing for us.

Right footed centre half? If we're going to sign a right-sided centre half, then his name should be Michael Hector. Edit: To be fair, Wycombe fans rate him highly.

Yeh, I see no reason why Motherwell wouldn't sell us a full international, aged only 30, with 12 months still left on his deal, for 50k.

Noticeable that Christian Ramirez hasn't been at pre-season training...

Does that not conflict with your argument then? You're saying the foreign signings don't work out because they can't adapt to Scotland, then say it's because they probably weren't good enough in the first place. For every foreign player you say wasn't good enough, I could probably name 20 from the U.K. we signed who weren't good enough either. Our current recruitment and scouting model is essentially less than a year old, so comparing it to previous seasons is probably useless anyway.

Think you're confusing Di Rocco with D'Jaffo, who may have been his replacement. Di Rocco I think was a late season loan signing, only played 10 games (scored 3 times though) but I don't think we could get a permanent deal done. Was quick, strong and good in the air. Well worth his place in the side.

Sorry, forgot about Cobian.

But all the things you've said there could be applied to guys we've signed from the rest of the U.K. Only recently - Cosgrove probably - have we actually thought about a sell on value for players. We've always been thinking short term. Us not (in your view) signing good foreign players is more down to the management and recruitment rather than them being foreign. I struggle to think of one example of us signing a guy from abroad who was proven to be a good player before he arrived, and him failing to settle in Scotland.

Snelders Guintveit Arnason Solberg Kiriakov Di Rocco Bisconti Heikennen Zeroauli Paatelainen Ramirez Slight concern over the imbalance of the team and a couple of players out of position slightly, but solid enough and deadly in the opposition box. Kjaer and Stavrum could replace Snelders and Paatelainen if you want to be picky about when they signed rather than when they played. Notable mentions too for Ten Caat, Belabed and Cerny. Techincally, Sone Aluko & Michael Hector were capped for foreign teams but I've left them out, as well as all the Irish even though they're foreign too.

30 years? Are you trying to suggest since 1992 we haven't signed any good foreign players? Come on now... Anyway, I don't need to go back 30 years. Ramirez was clearly a good signing. Would a Scottish striker have brought us the same return in goals? Others like Beni Baningime (Hearts) and Benjamin Siegrist (Dundee United) did well last season.

Last season we signed Scott Brown, David Bates, Declan Gallagher, JET, Matty Longstaff, Teddy Jenks, Adam Montgomery, Gary Woods, Austin Samuels and Markey Watkins. All of them failed to adapt to our style of play in this country, the climate, and the language. Maybe we shouldn't sign anyone, too much of a risk.

Box to box midfielder, left footed. Appears he played well enough when in the team at Blackburn but had no luck with injuries. One of those "potentially, if fit, could be a player". Bit of a risk but that's the market we're in. As for him not being hungry enough - could just be Mowbray being an arse. But, not hugely surprising if it is true, a young player repeatedly getting injured when given a chance, hard to remain motivated and keep your spirits up.

According to Tyrone Smith, his first name is pronounced Eeelber, for those wondering. Edit: Ylber Ramadani's first name obviously. Tyrone is as it's written

We've signed someone! https://www.afc.co.uk/2022/06/08/ramadani-becomes-a-red/

I've only watched Liam Scales play once - a 4-0 win over Raith Rovers where he scored a cracking goal and I gave him the man of the match award. But, a Celtic supporting friend who watches him far more often than I insists "he's slow and pish". He actually has a decent goal scoring rate at all the clubs he's played for. I would say he's worth a chance, and at 23 still has his best years ahead of him.

£350,000 price tag for Charles Dunne. Hopefully that puts that one to bed and we move on to someone else. Graeme Shinnie available on a free. Dunno if he would want a move back to Scotland yet, but if there's even a small chance of signing him then 100% we should be in there. That would sort out who should be captain next season. Although, with this Ramadani signing, that might rule that one out as he's a DM.

Heading to Spain for a week, with a fixture over there I think. Playing Buckie Thistle on 25 June, and Brechin City 6 July. Then first game of season is 10 July v Peterhead. Sounds like they'll be back in training in about two weeks, except Lewis Ferguson who'll get longer because of Scotland duty. That's not long to get the avalanche of signings in, especially since many players don't get released from their contracts until 1 July.

Scott Allan been released by Hibs. I know Goodwin was very close to signing him for St Mirren, although not sure he fits into Goodwin's "young and energetic" mantra now considering he hasn't completed a 90 minutes all season. Shame, five years ago he was a fantastic player but has had no luck with his health, what with diabetes then his heart problems. Probably Kilmarnock bound - he sounds like the type of player McInnes will take a punt on.