Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass confirmed he will wait until the European opener to name his captain for the new season.
Keeper Joe Lewis retains the skipper’s armband for now but Glass admits that could change with so many leaders at the club.
The Dons gaffer will make his final decision on the captaincy in the build up to the Euro clash with BK Hacken.
Aberdeen face the Swedish outfit in the Uefa Europa Conference League at Pittodrie on Thursday July 22.
Glass insists there are a host of strong candidates to lead out the Dons as skipper in that second qualifying round first leg tie.
They include summer signings Scott Brown, Christian Ramirez, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Declan Gallagher, long serving Don Andy Considine – and Lewis.
On the captaincy, Glass said: “It is a club decision that I have to take care of.
“At the moment we still have Joe as captain of the club.
“I know people outwith will be thinking there is an automatic change because Scott (Brown) is here.
“Whether Joe is still there or whether it is someone else we will see when we get to that game.
“But we have a number of leaders in that group and it is important the group knows that.”
Leaders at the club – including Lewis
During his pre-season rebuild Glass secured Celtic captain Brown on a two year contract in a player-coach role.
Celtic were desperate to keep their influential captain, who also skippered Scotland, and won 21 trophies during his time at Parkhead.
However he rejected the offer of a new contract with Celtic to commit to Aberdeen.
Glass also secured Motherwell captain Gallagher who was part of the 26-man Scotland squad at Euro 2020.
Lewis has captained Aberdeen for two seasons having replaced Graeme Shinnie as skipper in summer 2019.
Lewis underlined his long term commitment to Aberdeen by signing a five-year contract extension tying him to the club until 2024.
Defender Considine is in Aberdeen’s top five longest-serving players and is also a Scotland international.
Glass said: “We have taken in the Celtic captain, the Motherwell captain and have Andy Considine who has captained the team.
“Ramirez is a real leader, JET (Emmanuel-Thomas) is a leader, Joe is a leader – there is a huge number of leaders within that group.”
Work permit secured for Ramirez
Glass increased his summer signings to six when securing United States international Ramirez from Houston Dynamo.
Having negotiated a fee with Major League Soccer and personal terms with the 30-year-old the final hurdle was securing a work permit.
Aberdeen have now been successful in gaining a work permit for Ramirez.
Ramirez jetted into the Granite City last week from the United States and is currently undergoing 10 days’ quarantine in his flat.
However the Dons were given special elite athlete dispensation for Ramirez to attend training sessions during that quarantine period.
Glass bolstered his attack with the summer signing of Ramirez and Emmanuel-Thomas, who penned a two year contract having left Livingston.
Ramirez and Emmanuel-Thomas, both 30-years-old, are the only senior, experienced centre-forwards signed for the upcoming campaign.
No rush to sign another striker
Asked if he was in the market for another striker this summer, Glass said: “There is still nothing to report at the moment.
“We have Connor (McLennan) who can play up there.
“We have Michael Ruth, JET and Christian so we have a decent number of forwards up there at the moment.
“If this is what we have got we will be okay.
“But every manager in the league will tell you they would like to add players.”
No fresh interest in Aberdeen players
As well as securing signings in the summer Glass has had to contend with interest in Scotland U21 international Lewis Ferguson.
Aberdeen rejected a £2m bid from Premier League Watford for the midfielder and slated the offer as ‘insulting’.
Ferguson subsequently slapped in a transfer request but has returned for pre-season and is set to face BK Hacken in the European opener.
The club is greatly disappointed to have received a written transfer request from midfielder Lewis Ferguson today.
This request was rejected immediately.
More details ⬇️
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) May 19, 2021
Glass confirmed there has been no fresh approaches for Ferguson, or any player.
He said: “No bids in at the moment, we’ll see where it goes with a number of our players but at the moment I’ll continue with what we have.”
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