DONS WIN THE CHASE FOR FUNSO
ABERDEEN stepped in with an improved contract and the lure of European football to beat Hibs to the signing of Funso Ojo last night.
Both clubs had agreed a £125,000 fee with Scunthorpe United and were given permission to hold talks with the Belgian midfielder, above. The 27-year-old met with Hibs and
FROM BACK PAGE Paul Heckingbottom on Wednesday but Derek McInnes beat them to the punch yesterday with a convincing sales pitch, including the lure of Europa League football and an enhanced financial package, to get him to Pittodrie.
Ojo’s deal is set to be confirmed within the next 24 hours.
McInnes turned his attentions to him after he hit a brick wall trying to bring Dylan McGeouch in from Sunderland for the Europa League campaign.
The Reds are currently 2-1 up against RoPS and are short of midfield options, with Craig Bryson and Stephen Gleeson both out injured.
McInnes is looking to get the move done so if Aberdeen progress in Europe they can get Ojo, who has had spells at PSV Eindhoven, Beerschot, Royal Antwerp, FC Dordrecht and Willem II, registered.
But it is a blow to Hibs who thought they had a deal with the midfielder earlier in the summer.
Heckingbottom and Hibs agreed a fee but Aberdeen had the financial muscle to get the contract talks over the line.
The Easter Road boss was philosophical about losing out on the player and insists he only wants players who are committed to Hibs.
While refusing to publicly give up on Ojo, Hibs have privately moved on to other options and Heckingbottom has implied the player will be making a financial decision should he join the Pittodrie club.
He said: “I’m not particularly bothered which way he goes. We’ve done our bit and if he comes here fantastic.
“If he doesn’t then he’s gone there for different reasons to what we value as important.
“We can be comfortable in how we acted and what we do in terms of the contract we offered. It’s a fantastic contract.
“But we think it’s bigger and more important than that – it’s the football, the opportunity we give them, how we want to play. You’ve got to come here for the right reasons. If they don’t then that’s fine, they value something else.
“The only players I’m bothered about are the ones in our dressing room and we have to be sure that we get good people in our dressing room.”
But Hibs’ failure to capture Ojo will represent a particularly galling blow, given they thought it was a done deal in May.
Ojo visited their East Lothian training base and Easter Road and was ready to commit his future – with the Hibees hierarchy under the impression he was available on a free transfer following Scunthorpe’s relegation to League Two.
That transfer became embroiled in red tape when Scunny disputed that and demanded a fee, prompting Ojo’s representatives to threaten to take the issue to a FIFA tribunal.
But Scunthorpe came back to the negotiation table this week and accepted offers from both Hibs and Aberdeen.
Heckingbottom said: “Did we think we had him? We did in May. Circumstances have changed, haven’t they?
“We put the effort and work in at the beginning and if we had got him that would have been fantastic. But there’s clearly another team in the mix now.”