DON UP LIKE A SKIPPER
Mikey’s Del’s latest captain of industry
MICHAEL DEVLIN admits the chance to play in cup finals and win trophies made it easy for him to accept a move to Aberdeen.
After penning a three-and-a-half-year deal with the Dons, the centre-back ended his seven-year association with Hamilton and he hopes to be pulling on the Red shirt by March as he recovers from the cruciate ligament injury that has kept him out of action since May.
Pittodrie boss Derek McInnes, who has never hidden his admiration for the 24-year-old, sees Devlin as a leader on the pitch and looks forward to having him at the heart of his defence.
He is the third skipper of another club who has been recruited to McInnes’s outfit following Graeme Shinnie, who was Inverness’s captain, and Kenny McLean, who wore the armband at St Mirren.
Devlin, who knocked back a possible move to Preston, said: “As soon as I was aware there was interest I was excited about the prospect of coming here.
“The manager spoke to me and said he had big plans for myself and the club if we can make it happen and that was enough for me. He was really positive.
“At this stage in my career it was a fantastic move and I couldn’t wait to get the chance to come back here.
“In another couple of months hopefully I will be ready to go as February, March was the estimated time for my return.
“The medical team are confident they will get me in good shape and ready to play.
“We want to compete at the top end of the league and compete for silverware. That matches my ambitions in the game as well.
“That’s why I started playing football to get the opportunity to play in cup finals and win trophies and compete at the top of the league.”
McInnes revealed he was attracted to Devlin for a range of reasons and that the player had always performed well for Hamilton against the Dons.
He said: “We have signed the Inverness, St Mirren and Hamilton captains. There is a reason why they were captains of their previous teams.
“They have that influence. I am always attracted to that. I like Michael’s personality and I like him even more now that I have met him.”
The Dons will go head-to-head with Steve Clarke’s Kilmarnock today without keeper Joe Lewis who was injured in the midweek defeat to Rangers as he brought down Josh Windass to give them a penalty.
Lewis will have a cartilage operation next week and could be out for up to eight weeks.
McInnes – who will now field stand-in Danny Rogers – said: “We need to get another keeper in now. That wasn’t part of my thinking but we have to react to Joe’s injury.”
As soon as I was aware there was interest I was excited about coming here MIKEY DEVLIN