Stewart Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Dons manager is ready to take flight to clinch signing of Amiens defender Johnson By Paul Third Published: 22/07/2009 Mark McGhee is ready to fly to Paris today to make Reda Johnson his first signing at Aberdeen. The Dons manager is keen to complete the move for the Amiens defender, who impressed while on trial with the club in Austria last week, and stave off interest from other clubs in the 21-year-old. He said yesterday: “I will try to sign Johnson tomorrow. There has been good progress but it will require a face-to-face to nail it. It will mean going to Paris to do it. We have been pushing his agent but the club has been slow to react. I will have to go there personally to try and finalise the deal and, hopefully, get it done before Friday. “There are other ones bubbling away, these are pretty exciting times. Some will come to fruition, others won't. What worries me is that by saying how good Johnson is and his name has been in the papers, we have alerted other clubs to him. That's why I'm reticent to talk about other deals. “If it's not done in time for Europe, there is nothing more I can do. I have been working on this player since we got to Austria last week.†McGhee is also considering signing a goalkeeper on loan before Friday’s deadline for the Europa League qualifier next week against Fram Reykjavik or Sigma Olomouc. He said: “Bertrand Bossu is struggling with a hamstring injury and I am now considering bringing in another goalkeeper on loan before Friday as it is a worry.†If McGhee flies out to Paris, he hopes to head out to Iceland tomorrow to watch next week’s Europa League opponents face off in the second leg, meaning he will miss tonight’s friendly at Peterhead, but he has arranged for a DVD of the game to be made so he can analyse the Balmoor Stadium performance. Tommy Wright will miss the game and is facing a scan on the knee injury which kept him out of the second half of the training camp in Austria. McGhee said: “I’m trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. I’m trying to establish in my head what my strongest team will be for Europe. The players I have available now are probably the players I will have available for the game and I need to know what the best combination of players is. “I was pleased the players took on board what I wanted them to do but they took it a bit literally. I made a comment about concentrating on possession, but we were so determined to execute my ideas we did not go forward enough. It was a starting point and I want to develop it as we go forward. “We won’t try to change everything overnight. There will be a lot of aspects of our approach next week which will be the same as what they have done here in the past.†Quote
manc_don Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Fingers crossed the trip isn't a wasted one. Would be good to get a signing under his belt before yooorop Quote
Cowie Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 “There are other ones bubbling away, these are pretty exciting times. Some will come to fruition, others won't. What worries me is that by saying how good Johnson is and his name has been in the papers, we have alerted other clubs to him. That's why I'm reticent to talk about other deals. Sensible comments about potential targets aswell.... Hopefully one of them is a CM. Quote
dave_min Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Sensible comments about potential targets aswell.... Hopefully one of them is a CM. Either that or he's out of ideas Quote
manc_don Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Either that or he's out of ideas Haha quite the happy camper aren't we Dave? Quote
dave_min Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Haha quite the happy camper aren't we Dave? Was just saying... I'll quite happily be wrong about it. Quote
manc_don Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Was just saying... I'll quite happily be wrong about it. No doubt you would be. I was only messing anyway. I think we've far too often seen the "all your eggs in one basket" so to speak thing with transfers. I'd like to think McGhee hasn't quite reached that point just yet Quote
BigAl Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Fecking hell guys, he's missing the game against Peterhead to fuck off to Paris More worringly however is the fact that he seems to be upset about Bossu's hamstring. Personally speaking if he's pulled the fucker, then to me its a massive bonus Quote
Jute Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Fecking hell guys, he's missing the game against Peterhead to fuck off to Paris More worringly however is the fact that he seems to be upset about Bossu's hamstring. Personally speaking if he's pulled the fucker, then to me its a massive bonus I would hope that the injury story is him being diplomatic and in reality he has realised that Bossu is pish and thats why he is looking for a replacement. Quote
BigAl Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 I would hope that the injury story is him being diplomatic and in reality he has realised that Bossu is pish and thats why he is looking for a replacement. Exactly fit I meant Quote
Mackie's ace! Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Aww, you guys are all so harsh on Bert. He held the door open for me one day. He's a nice guy! Quote
Tyrant Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Aww, you guys are all so harsh on Bert. He held the door open for me one day. He's a nice guy! I'm surprised he didn't let the door go. Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 I wondered about Bossu when I saw that he hadn't been given the No. 12 shirt. Are the fans not no12? Quote
baggy89 Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 I wondered about Bossu when I saw that he hadn't been given the No. 12 shirt. Quote
baggy89 Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Oh yeah! I forgot about that little bit of nonsense. Quote
KGB Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 He should be number 13 anyway. Unlucky for us. Quote
Reekie_Red Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 I dunno. When he came on against The Great Unwashed of Govan back in January, he was pretty good. He had one slipup if I remember rightly, but a pretty good showing otherwise. Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 The guy is worse than shite. His performance v Killie is easily one of the worst individual performances I've ever seen from any Dons player. Quote
Reekie_Red Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 The guy is worse than shite. His performance v Killie is easily one of the worst individual performances I've ever seen from any Dons player. You sure about that? I've seen some pretty woeful performances by some pretty woeful players during the Aitken, Miller, Skovdahl and Paterson eras. Quote
manc_don Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 The guy is worse than shite. His performance v Killie is easily one of the worst individual performances I've ever seen from any Dons player. That was a sad sad day Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 You sure about that? I've seen some pretty woeful performances by some pretty woeful players during the Aitken, Miller, Skovdahl and Paterson eras. Absolutely. I've seen the same players in those eras as you Reekie and I swear Bossu is one of the worst. In fact, I'm struggling to think of any who had such a monumentally negative impact as he had that night. Quote
SlowClap Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Absolutely. I've seen the same players in those eras as you Reekie and I swear Bossu is one of the worst. In fact, I'm struggling to think of any who had such a monumentally negative impact as he had that night. Jackie Mack at hampden against QoS....easy...in fact, that was so bad, I don't think I'll ever get over it. The boy was an absolute joke, so bad I'll be reciting the story to my great grandson as he passes me a werthers original. Pish. Quote
Reekie_Red Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 I didnae see Bossu's Killie performance. But surely there's been worse from the likes of Tzvetanov or Kombouare. Tony Warner really springs to mind with this discussion. Didn't Warner let in something like 17 goals in his five Dons appearances? Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 Jackie Mack at hampden against QoS....easy...in fact, that was so bad, I don't think I'll ever get over it. The boy was an absolute joke, so bad I'll be reciting the story to my great grandson as he passes me a werthers original. Pish. He was dreadful that day, but Soutar, Considine, Diamond and Maybury were equally as culpable. That night at Killie there were folk screaming for the guy to be subbed after 10 minutes, that's how bad he was. Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 I didnae see Bossu's Killie performance. But surely there's been worse from the likes of Tzvetanov or Kombouare. Tony Warner really springs to mind with this discussion. Didn't Warner let in something like 17 goals in his five Dons appearances? Not sure about that. Either way, he was fucking hideous and to blame for 3 out of 4 goals directly. Worst. Debut. Ever. Anyway, I hope he's not reading this! Quote
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