ROARING REDS
Devlin and McKenna a perfect pair at Pittodrie
NEW team-mates, old pals. Mikey Devlin and Scott McKenna have never played a minute of competitive football together but they have developed into quite the double act away from Pittodrie. Derek McInnes is set to debut Aberdeen’s new defensive partnership in the Europa League qualifier against Burnley later this month, a combination he has been waiting on for months.
Devlin has been in recovery since sustaining a cruciate injury in Hamilton Accies’ final match of the 2016-17 Premiership season but that didn’t stop McInnes moving to sign the 24-year-old during the January transfer window.
By completing his rehabilitation programme with his new club, Devlin was able to integrate with his new team-mates and found a kindred spirit in McKenna, who was halfway into a remarkable breakthrough season that culminated in him captaining Scotland against Mexico last month.
‘The two of them are best buddies,’ said McInnes. ‘They live together, they go on holiday together.
‘There is a relationship off the park that I feel can help on it. They are both at a good age and are good types.
‘When players come back from the type of injury Mikey has had it tests their character. It can get the better of some players but there is a determination and steel about Devlin that reminds me of McKenna.’
The emergence of McKenna, 21, was a surprise development that helped ease concerns over a department of the Aberdeen team that had been problematic even before Ash Taylor quit the club a year ago.
The signing of Kari Arnason had looked a good piece of business. But, although the veteran’s second spell at the club was a personal success in that it provided enough football to earn him a place in Iceland’s World Cup starting XI, he passed through Pittodrie without ever imposing himself.
The hunger of the younger duo appeals to McInnes and he has already seen enough from Devlin to suggest he possesses the mentality to become a big player for the club.
‘It’s so invaluable that Mikey has been here for the past few months,’ said McInnes. ‘We’ve had him in doing his rehab, getting used to our way of work but it’s also allowed him to become part of it.
‘He hasn’t played for us yet but I actually feel as though he has been here for years. He has immersed himself in it. He travelled to every game last season home and away and was in the dressing room before every game.
‘He is just a proper person and I look forward to helping him be the best player he can be.’
Just a few weeks before sustaining that injury, Devlin almost singlehandedly earned Hamilton a victory over Aberdeen, forcing home the winning strike and then defending the Accies goal as if his very existence depended on it.
‘Mikey is a very good penalty-box defender and defends the goal with his life — I like that,’ added McInnes. ‘Even in training I like defenders who will do anything to keep the ball out of their net.
‘Having watched him closely and how he has overcome his injuries, we just felt it was too good an opportunity to miss.’
After losing the Scottish Cup semi-final to Motherwell last season, McInnes made the frank admission that his player recruitment over the previous two transfer windows had been flawed.
Notably, he concedes that the squad probably carried too many loan players.
Ryan Christie, Greg Stewart, Dom Ball, Chidi Nwakali and Freddie Woodman all came in on short-term deals last season to mixed effect.
McInnes wants as many permanent staffers as he can but won’t pass up the kind of opportunity that allowed him to bring James Maddison — now a £24million Leicester City player — up from Norwich just a couple of seasons ago.
With midfielders Lewis Ferguson, Stephen Gleeson and Chris Forrester on board and Devlin fit and ready to play his first game for the club, he feels confident that his work this summer will bear more fruit.
‘In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have to sign loans,’ he admitted. ‘And looking at last year, yes, I think there is merit in saying we had too many. ‘We tried to sign Christie permanently. We tried to sign Stewart permanently. Such were the finances that their clubs would not sell. It couldn’t be any other way.
‘Ideally, I would love to have my own players but sometimes it works to our advantage.
‘We have had a lot of players like Michael Hector, Danny Ward, Maddison and Christie — players on wages we can’t pay. ‘The loan system allows us to work with a certain level of player that we couldn’t normally afford to sign.
‘As manager, my first port of call is the out-of-contract list. The loan market is next and then players who command a transfer fee.
‘We don’t normally buy players. We have paid a relatively small fee for Chris (Forrester) and then we will go to a tribunal for Lewis, because I think that is worth it with the potential.
‘If we can’t get everything we need, loans help to bridge the gap.’
McInnes is also hoping one of his better-known players emerges as a renewed force this term.
Niall McGinn left Pittodrie a year ago but a relegation clause inserted in his contract with South Korean side Gwangju allowed him to return to Scotland in January.
He cut a jaded figure when he re-emerged in red but, after some proper time out this summer, McInnes believes he could be ready to turn in a big season.
‘On the first day back, Niall was through the roof on the testing,’ said McInnes. ‘That’s not been Niall over the past few seasons.
‘For all the good seasons my players have had, I’m hoping 2018-19 is Niall McGinn’s best season.’