Out-of-contract players will be where Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes looks first to strengthen his squad.
McInnes signed Hamilton Accies midfielder Lewis Ferguson on a pre-contract agreement and has been linked with Hibernian’s Dylan McGeouch, who sees his deal expire this summer.
Sam Cosgrove and Mikey Devlin were signed with next season in mind but brought in six months early. McInnes will also lose six loan players as they return to their parent clubs and will not rule out dipping into the loan market again.
McInnes said: “We’ve targeted players and we have met players in the last few weeks. We have spoken openly about certain players who we want to try to bring to the club. Hopefully we can get some news on that. I think that qualifying for Europe is another added incentive for players to come. A lot of players see Aberdeen as a good move and we can offer a lot.
“The out-of-contract list is usually our first port of call, like most Scottish teams. We’ll look at the out-of-contract list, we’ll look at the loan market which is further down the line but we’ll try to bring good players to the club. We have identified positions, we have identified key players within that and hopefully we can get all our main targets.”
McInnes had to replace the backbone of his team last year as Ash Taylor, Ryan Jack, Peter Pawlett, Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn all departed. With another high turnover of players expected, the Dons boss anticipates another busy summer but it is one he relishes.
McInnes said: “I’m actually as excited and energised as any time I’ve been here because I’m really looking forward to doing what I need to do in the summer. I’m excited that we’ve got good young ones coming through to add to the good players we’ve already got here. I think Devlin, Cosgrove and Ferguson are at good ages and good types. That’s the younger element.
“But I do think we need more and Aberdeen certainly need more tried and tested players with that level of experience in key positions. Hopefully we can bring two or three of that mould as well. I’m really looking forward to it because I’ve probably known for a wee while now what I would like to have in the building.
“The fact that we’re now even closer to that, hopefully we can make those good signings that will be important for us to remain competitive.”