Cosgrove snubs £2m French bid
ABERDEEN striker Sam Cosgrove has turned down a £2million move to French side Guingamp. The Ligue 2 outfit had an offer accepted during talks earlier this week, but the 23-year-old opted to remain at Pittodrie. Guingamp made their move just before the signing deadline for the initial part of this summer’s French transfer window. Cosgrove is understood to have felt he did not have enough time to fully consider the implications of a move abroad and wasn’t sold on the prospect of playing second-tier football. Guingamp could renew
their bid for his services when the French window reopens on August 15, but appear more likely to consider other targets. Scorer of 23 goals in last season’s curtailed campaign, Cosgrove has proved to be an inspired purchase by Derek McInnes after making a bargain £40,000 move from Carlisle United in 2018. A number of English clubs have been tracking his progress but he is in no rush to depart Aberdeen, where his contract still has two years to run. Pittodrie chairman Dave Cormack estimates a £9m loss due to the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but has previously stressed they will not sell key men on the cheap. Cormack is now poised to reveal further details of the situation facing the club after admitting they will take a £400,000 hit just from their Premiership opener against Rangers being played behind closed doors. Talks with players over wage cuts have been ongoing since last month, but no agreement has been reached on a proposal which is understood to involve the forgoing of both appearance and bonus money. ‘Next week we’ll update Dons fans on the club’s cashflow projections for season 20/21,’ tweeted Cormack. ‘An example of the reality we face is an income loss of £400,000 with the Rangers game being played behind closed doors. Determined to avoid staff redundancies and entertain our fans! Stand Free!’ McInnes brought Jonny Hayes back to Aberdeen last month, but that deal was only struck after the Irishman agreed to defer his wages for the whole of next season when signing a two-year contract. ‘We face a situation at the minute where we’ve got to be mindful of the financial situation the club is in,’ said the Pittodrie boss. ‘We won’t be adding to the squad while the situation remains as it is. That’s why we were delighted to bring Jonny in and that’s a situation far from the norm, a player agreeing to defer wages. ‘But we can’t be asking staff and players and others within the club to look at certain measures, then still continue to be flying in the face of that by signing player after player, which we won’t be doing. ‘We still have the majority of the squad we had from last season under contract. ‘And any manager would want to hold on to his best players for as long as possible and I’m no different. Hopefully, that can be the case.’