Aberdeen kick out Hull City’s bid for centre-half McKenna
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes last night confirmed that the club have kicked out a bid from Hull City for defender Scott McKenna.
Hull’s new manager Nigel Adkins is eager to add reinforcements in the current transfer window to prevent the English Championship club suffering a second successive relegation and made an offer in the region of £350,000 for the Scotland Under-21 cap.
McKenna has been scouted by a clutch of clubs since breaking into the Dons team earlier this season but, speaking from Aberdeen’s
Dubai training base, McInnes insisted Hull’s offer fell way short of the club’s valuation.
He said: ‘We have had a bid but it’s not something that is attractive to us. The offer is well short of our valuation and in any case we have no appetite to sell Scott or any of our players.’
McKenna has partnered the experienced Kari Arnason during his extended run in the side and the Iceland international has hailed the 21-year-old as a ‘manager’s dream’ for the way he has slotted into the side.
‘Scott has got everything he needs to become a brilliant British centre-half,’ says Arnason. ‘He has the physicality, he has pace. He has a good head on his shoulders but he is very ambitious — if he listens to the right people, then the sky is the limit for him.
‘As a defender, I have always tried to play off the other centre-back. Whatever his weaknesses are, I try to make him better in a sense. It’s all about covering each other and Scott does that for me, too.
‘You couldn’t find a better sales project. He is left-footed, he is very quick, he is strong as an ox. It’s every manager’s dream to have a centre-back like that.’
McKenna is likely to feature as the Dons conclude their winter training camp with a friendly against Uzbekistani champions Lokomotiv Tashkent at the Jebel Ali complex this afternoon.
Efforts also remain ongoing to secure a work permit for midfielder Chidi Nwakali. A loan deal has been agreed with Manchester City to sign the 20-year-old Nigerian and McInnes is hoping a three-man panel will adjudicate in the club’s favour in time for next Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup tie against St Mirren.