Cormack adamant Aberdeen get value for best players in future
Chairman won’t let stars run contracts down anymore
ABERDEEN chairman Dave Cormack says the days of selling players on the cheap or allowing them to allow contracts to run down and leave for free, are at an end. Cormack bemoaned the loss of key players in recent years – losing midfielders Ryan Jack to Rangers and Graeme Shinnie to Derby County for nothing, and Kenny McLean to Norwich City for a meagre £ 100,000 as the Scotland international played out his Pittodrie contract.
Now, as the millionaire businessman holds the reins, the Reds have taken a path that will see them nurture their best young talent with a view to selling them on for big bucks, just as they did with Calvin Ramsay to Liverpool, whose transfer could bring in up to £ 8 million with add- ons, and Lewis Ferguson to Serie A outfit Bologna for £ 3m.
Cormack said: “We’re not going to go back to the situation where we got £ 100,000 for Kenny McLean because Norwich signed him on a pre- contract or Ryan Jack and Graeme Shinnie who left for nothing.
“What we’ve been able to do is really invest in the youth academy, the recruitment team we’ve got and the analysts who are looking at these players across the world.”
Star striker Bojan Miovski, a summer recruit from MTK Budapest and attacker Luis “Duk” Lopes, signed from Benfica are attracting attention from across Europe with their displays.
Cormack added: “We’ve got scouts from across the world coming for the upcoming Celtic and Rangers games and they are not necessarily coming to watch players in those teams.
“We’ve been able to open doors now we’ve never opened before and people are looking at Aberdeen and saying ‘ that’s the place I want to be for the next three or four years’.
“We paid € 650,000 for Miovski and that’s not chump change.
“MTK turned down € 2 million from Granada in the January window and we got him in the summer and we think it was a good investment for us.”
The 23- year- old’s 12 goals this season means bigger clubs are starting to circle with an anticipation that he may be targeted in the January window.
“This summer was the first time Darren Mowbray, our head of recruitment, had a full window and we were in 16 countries,” the Atalanta- based Pittodrie chairman revealed.
“The young academy guys are doing exceptionally well and we are victims of our own success.
“Our pitch to the under- 16s is that there is a real pathway here now to getting into the first team and Jim is totally on board with that.
“Are we going to keep all these players? Not necessarily but we put our best foot forward with a player we want to sign professionally with us.
“Whether it’s Jim, Steven Gunn or Barry Robson, they all go through the attributes of that player and what they need to do to reach the next level. There’s a pathway there and I think we do a super job at it.
“These under- 16 players, the Scottish Government dictates any fee if someone comes in and tries to take these players and relatively speaking it is cheap.
“The Premier League clubs might throw £ 2m at signing 10 players and say to an agent ‘ here’s
£ 200,000 to give to a club, the player’s parents and themselves to bring a player in’ and they run that lottery.
“How many under- 23 players have come to Aberdeen without having men- against- men experience and done well here. How many under- 16 players who have left Aberdeen have done well?”
Aberdeen- born- and- bred Cormack took the view that for football Brexit had its plusses and minuses with the Scottish market now more attractive with a potential for an increase in value of players here.
“Typically, there are multiple parties in for a Calvin Ramsay or someone like him,” he said.
“Brexit has been hard for us because we have to go through all these processes with the SFA relating to bringing a player in and getting a visa.
“But the main thing is doubling down on the investment in the academy and looking at other players.”
Meanwhile, Cormack insisted the Dons are not looking for a hand- out from Aberdeen City Council, who will meet today to discuss whether they should help fund an £ 80m community stadium as part of their beach development project.
He said: “It’s ludicrous that people think the club is looking for a hand- out. The reality is, it’s a capital investment and nobody is saying all the money needs to be paid by the council.”
People are looking at Aberdeen and saying ‘ that’s the place I want to be for the next three or four years’