New Don Jeffrey Monakana is hoping Aberdeen can beat Groningen tomorrow to keep his hopes of making a European debut alive.
The Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder, who joined the Dons on loan on Monday, is ineligible for tomorrow’s match in the Netherlands but will be available for the third round tie against Real Sociedad, of Spain, if the Dons go through. The 20-year-old would love nothing more than to mark his competitive debut in the Europa League.
He said: “I’m hoping the players can pull it off on Thursday and get the club through to the next round to give me a chance of making my debut, but if that doesn’t happen I’ll make my debut in a league game.
“I first heard about interest from Aberdeen a couple of days ago and I was very interested after seeing how well the club did last season.
“There were other clubs looking at me but I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to come up here.”
Monakana joined Brighton from Preston North End in January after coming through the youth system at Arsenal, but has yet to make a first team appearance for the English Championship club.
He hopes by moving to Pittodrie he can improve and return to Albion ready to challenge for a first team and believes the Dons present the perfect platform for him to achieve his aim.
He said: “I see this is a good team and they have good players. I’ve heard good things about the manager and staff, and the supporters, and I just felt I couldn’t turn it down.
“I joined Brighton to play in the first team and it’s a great set-up there with the new stadium and training ground.
“Hopefully by coming up here I can show I can play a bit and I’ll go back there ready to play.”
Dons manager Derek McInnes turned to Monakana after Wolves attacking midfielder Zeli Ismail chose to join Notts County on loan instead of a move to Pittodrie.
Ismail claimed the proposed Dons move “didn’t feel right” but Monakana has no such complaints.
He said: “I watched the League Cup final and I saw how big a club this is so when the chance to come here came up I had a hunch and it felt like the right thing to do.
“I’m very direct, skilful and fast, and I love to play football.”