Derek McInnes insists Hull City will be wasting their time if they try to test Aberdeen with another bid for Scott McKenna.
The Dons have rejected two offers from the English Championship side for McKenna, who signed a three-year contract extension at Pittodrie in October.
An initial bid of £300,000 was knocked back and a restructured second bid – with add-ons – was also turned down on Saturday for the Scotland under-21 international.
McKenna played the last 15 minutes of Aberdeen’s 2-0 friendly defeat by Lokomotiv Tashkent in Dubai yesterday as they wound down their winter training camp in Dubai.
The central defender has been kept updated by McInnes with the rejected offers and is on board with the Dons’ plan to keep him.
McInnes is not interested in selling any of his players in January, especially McKenna, as the Reds manager believes the player will go for a far greater sum when he is ready to move on.
He said: “He’s not for sale in January – I’m not looking to move any of my players. McKenna will move at some point but it won’t be January.
“He signed a four-year deal and I firmly believe he’ll go and prove his worth. We’ll sell him at a top fee and the offer was well off what we think he’s worth. We’ve got a plan for him and he’s got a plan for himself – we want to get him in the Scotland set-up and for him to play 100 to 150 games before we think about moving him on.
“He’s got a big part to play and he’s dealt with it fine. If any more offers come in they’ll be wasting their time, certainly this month. For me, he’s money in the bank, he’ll get sold at some point but certainly not in January. We’ve got ambitions of our own and I’m enjoying working with him. He’s said for his own career he has to be playing week in, week out and there are no guarantees he’ll get that if he goes.”
McKenna spoke last week of his desire to push into the Scotland set-up after impressing in his five appearances for Scot Gemmill’s under-21s. Although McInnes has admitted he has little in the way of a transfer budget, entertaining selling someone of McKenna’s importance is not being considered at this stage.
Chidi Nwakali’s work permit application could be resolved this week, while defender Andrew Considine, who sat out yesterday’s Tashkent game with a thigh problem, should be fit for the Scottish Cup tie with St Mirren on Saturday.
McInnes chose not to risk Stevie May and Niall McGinn during the Dubai friendly due to a lack of match fitness.