The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Family first as Shinnie considers his future
Graeme Shinnie will not rush into a decision on his future as it is one of the biggest decisions of his career.
The Aberdeen captain is out of contract at the end of the season and to date, there have been no developments on extending his stay at Pittodrie.
It is a similar situation to the one Shinnie found himself in before he joined the Dons with his contract running down at Caley Thistle before he signed a pre-contract at Pittodrie.
He will be able to speak to other clubs from next month and Shinnie stressed he will consult with his family before making a final decision because, at 27, this is arguably his biggest contract call.
Shinnie said: “There’s no developments and it is what it is. There’ll be rumours and all sorts flying about but I’m at an age where this is quite an important decision for me.
“It’s one that I’m not going to rush into, it’s something that I’m going to take my time with. I’ll take my time to speak to my family and see what is best for me but I do love it at the club.
“I’m the captain at the club and I’ve got a great relationship with the staff, the fans and the players at Aberdeen. So that is something that I would never give up easily so it is a decision that I need to make and not rush into.”
Shinnie is one of four Dons out of contract at the end of the season with Andy Considine, Gary Mackay-Steven and Mark Reynolds also entering the final months of their deals.
All will be keen to help Aberdeen secure a fifth consecutive second-place finish. Despite an inconsistent start to the season, they remain within touching distance of the top three. They are four points behind third-place Kilmarnock with a game in hand, ahead of today’s match at St Mirren.
Shinnie added: “I definitely think we are good enough to finish second again but it’s up to us to go and prove it. If you are going to be anywhere near it you are going to have to put runs together and put pressure on your rivals which we haven’t done so far.
“We’ve sort of been playing catch-up for most of the season which has been frustrating and we want to change that now. It’s not been nice looking at the league table after a couple of wins and finding that you are still down in seventh or sixth place.
“We want to be right back up there again and the only way you do that is if by winning games and that’s why we can’t be winning one then dropping points. We need to find the sort of form we’ve shown in recent seasons.”
Dons boss Derek McInnes is planning talks with Derby County next week over extending Max Lowe’s loan.
The full-back, who has impressed in recent weeks, is on loan at Pittodrie until the start of January but both Lowe and McInnes are keen on extending the deal until the end of the season.
Derby are understood to be keen on recruiting a left-back in January as Scott Malone is currently their only fit option after Scot Craig Forsyth damaged his anterior cruciate ligament last month and is expected to be out for the season.
Rams boss Frank Lampard said last week the loan had been great for Lowe and he was impressed with the defender’s performance in the Betfred Cup final against Celtic. He shone against Rangers at Ibrox and again on Tuesday night against Livingston and McInnes hopes the Dons supporters get to see plenty more of the 21-year-old.
He said: “His recall is the first week of January so I’ll probably talk to Frank and Derby next week and see where we’re at but hopefully he can come to our training camp in Dubai.”