Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is confident he can fend off interest in his talented trio of Sam Cosgrove, Scott McKenna and Lewis Ferguson this summer.
The shutdown caused by the coronavirus and uncertainty about when football will return, allied to the difficult financial outlook for clubs, will make for an unpredictable transfer window this summer.
The focus of clubs right now is on trying to finish the current season but that will not stop interested parties from weighing up whether to make moves for the in-demand trio at Pittodrie.
Leading scorer Cosgrove was watched by Stoke City in January while the Dons have turned down bids from England for McKenna in the past couple of seasons.
With Ferguson cementing his status as one of Scottish football’s bright young prospects with another sterling campaign for the Dons McInnes would not be surprised if clubs come calling but he remains hopeful of keeping the players at Pittodrie.
The Dons boss said: “They are good players and good teams always want good players.
“But I haven’t really given that too much thought because I have just been concentrating on what we have had to deal with.
“We have a squad that is still all pretty much under contract for next season.
“We will have to see if we can tweak it here or there but we will only know if we can do that once we know what we are dealing with.
“We don’t know when or where this will all end and what it will mean to the club financially.”
While fending off interest in his players will be one task facing McInnes the Aberdeen manager has decisions to make on out of contract players.
Frank Ross and Tomas Cerny are both out of contract this summer while the Dons were in talks with Greg Leigh about signing a permanent deal following his loan from NAC Breda prior to the season grinding to a halt.
McInnes, however, says all matters relating to player contracts have been put on hold.
He said: “Nothing is really getting spoken to with any players in terms of contracts, with the boys who are out of contract.
“Everything is on hold at the moment and as a club we are not in a position to do anything at the minute.”
With loan players including goalkeeper Danny Rogers back at the club McInnes has much to ponder.
He said: “Decisions will need to be made on these boys over the next couple of weeks in an ordinary season. All these things will be addressed in due course over the coming weeks.”