Sam Cosgrove has turned down a move to French Ligue 2 side Guingamp.
Sylvain Didot’s side are reported to have tabled a significant offer for Cosgrove’s services, which the Dons accepted but the player himself knocked back.
It is understood the short time-frame involved in needing to make a decision and feeling he has unfinished business at Aberdeen contributed to him opting to stay with the Dons.
Cosgrove finished as the Dons’ top scorer last season with 23 goals in all competitions and has been linked with various clubs in England in the past, such as Stoke City and Middlesbrough.
En Avant de Guingamp finished eighth in last season’s Ligue 2 when it was brought to an end due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It comes as manager Derek McInnes says he has no plans to add to his Aberdeen squad.
The Dons boss insists the Jonny Hayes signing will be a one-off this year at Pittodrie, given the financial sacrifice the Irishman has made to return to the club.
With Aberdeen making financial cuts to weather the decrease in income this year, McInnes knows he has to be prudent with the finances that are on offer.
There is also due consideration given to how other staff members at the club are affected by the imposed shutdown, with some being placed on furlough to ease the strain on the club coffers.
In light of that, it does not sit right with McInnes to go out and make several signings and he is content to go with the squad he has for the 2020-21 campaign.
He said: “We face a situation at the minute where we’ve got to be mindful of the financial situation the club is in. We have the majority of the squad we had from last season under contract. Any manager would want to hold on to his best players for as long as possible and I’m no different. Hopefully that can be the case.
“We won’t be adding to the squad while the situation remains as it is. That’s why we were delighted to bring in Jonny in and that’s a situation far from the norm, a player agreeing to defer wages.
“But we can’t be asking staff and players and others within the club to look at certain measures, then still continue to be flying in the face of that by signing player after player, which we won’t be doing.”
That means a deal will not be forthcoming for defender Tommie Hoban, who had been training with the club.
Hoban played nine times for the Dons during the 2018-19 season on loan from Watford but suffered two serious injuries – shoulder and knee – and has not played since February 2019.
He was let go by Watford last year and had been in line for a potential move back to Aberdeen prior to the shutdown of football in March.
McInnes added: “Tommie is still up with us working away and working hard to get back to where he was before the injury. The fact that he’s been training on his own hasn’t been ideal but we’re bringing him up to fulfil that commitment to him.”