The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Injury crisis deepens, but Dons boss will not be heading for market
Pair of experienced central midfielders out, leaving young duo as McInnes’ only options – for now
Aberdeen’s injury crisis deepened yesterday but manager Derek McInnes will not be delving into the transfer market to bolster his squad.
Funso Ojo is unlikely to play again this year after scans showed he suffered a severe hamstring tear against St Johnstone last weekend while Craig Bryson will not feature until after the October international break after suffering an ankle injury.
The loss of the two experienced midfielders leaves Lewis Ferguson, 20, and 18-year-old Dean Campbell as the two fit first-team central midfielders but McInnes will not be looking to strengthen his squad.
The Aberdeen manager said: “There’s no scope to bring anyone in. If Bryson had been out for longer, if both had been out for three months, it’s something we would have looked at.
“We’ve looked at a few of the out-ofcontract players, as we do, we always try to keep abreast of who is still possibly available to us. We’ve made the decision to go as we are.”
He will persevere with those who are available but the Dons boss is frustrated at losing the services of two key midfielders ahead of a crucial week.
Aberdeen face three away games in the next seven days with a Betfred Cup quarter-final at Hearts sandwiched between league matches at Livingston tomorrow and Rangers next weekend.
McInnes said: “Thirteen players trained today. Albeit some of the younger ones who played against Huddersfield will come in tomorrow but we’re a wee bit stretched.
“We certainly can’t be losing too many more or it starts to become a real issue. I still like to concentrate on the ones we have available and deal with the games we have coming up.
“Ojo being out for three months is a real blow. He’s had a significant tear on his hamstring.
“He actually damaged his other hamstring in the incident, but that’s nothing in comparison.
“The scan on that was quite favourable. It’s the other one which is as bad a hamstring injury as you can get in terms of a tear.
“We’ll probably be without Ojo until January.
“Bryson will be out for a month with his ankle. Again there was nothing sinister. He was just helping the ball on and it’s the way he landed.
“It wasn’t the ankle injury he arrived with, it was his other one, which he’s never had any issues with.
“We have to deal with it. I don’t want the build-up to this to be dominated by injuries but clearly it’s disappointing news this week.”
We’ve made the decision to go as we are. DEREK MCINNES