Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass confirmed he won’t risk rushing back full-backs Calvin Ramsay and Jack MacKenzie despite a defensive injury crisis.
Rising stars Ramsay and MacKenzie have both missed recent games due to injury and are ruled out of Saturday’s Pittodrie clash with Motherwell.
Glass will not put any pressure on the full-backs to return until they are fully ready.
Scotland U21 international Ramsay is sidelined with a thigh problem and MacKenzie has a hamstring injury.
Glass revealed he will have a clearer picture after the upcoming international break of when the young full-backs will be fit and available again.
Glass said: “There is a timeframe there but we don’t want to put pressure on Calvin and Jack until they are ready.
“We will be nearer to nailing timescales down after we come through the international break.”
‘We just need to be here for them’
Ramsay and MacKenzie have been two of Aberdeen’s top performers this season and pitched in with four assists between them in the four games before their injury problems hit.
Right-back Ramsay was forced off after 30 minutes of the 1-0 defeat of Hibs with a quad thigh muscle injury and has missed the games against Hearts (2-1 win) and Rangers (2-2).
Left-back MacKenzie, 21, has been ruled out of the previous three games having sustained an ankle injury during training in the build up to the Hibs game.
Glass insists the club will ‘be here for them’ and revealed both full-backs will do gym work to keep their core strength and fitness up.
He said: “We just need to here for them.
“There is also a different road they can go through.
“Calvin can do a lot of gym work that physically he needs.
“Jack is a powerful boy anyway and that needs a lot of maintenance work.”
Rapid rise of Aberdeen’s young full-backs
Both full-backs made their first team debuts in March this year and have quickly accelerated their careers to the stage they are regular first team starters.
Ramsay has impressed so much the teenager is being tracked by English Premier League sides Manchester United, Everton, West Ham, Leicester City and Southampton.
Glass recently admitted he wouldn’t be surprised if an English top flight club came in with a bid for Ramsay during the January transfer window.
Manchester United had Ramsay scouted earlier this season and are understood to have compiled a dossier on the Pittodrie Youth Academy graduate.
Everton boss Rafa Benitez also sent one of his top scouts to watch the Scotland U21 international in September.
Following that assessment it is understood Ramsay is now on the Goodison Park boss’ January signing wish-list.
Ramsay signed a new contract in January this year tying him to Pittodrie until summer 2024.
In March Aberdeen also secured MacKenzie on a two year contract extension until summer 2023.
Glass keeps duo involved in team meetings
Both full-backs may be out injured but Glass is keeping the ‘brilliant boys’ part of the squad as they go through tactics ahead of the games.
It is all part of the ongoing process of continually improving two of the not just the club’s, but Scottish football’s, brightest prospects.
He said: “They are still part of all the meetings we have so they are aware of all the tactics we are using.
“They are still learning even though they are not on the pitch.
“They are very good and it is important they use the time to improve as players, even though they are not actually playing.
“They are brilliant boys.”
Aberdeen’s ongoing defensive injury crisis
The absence of Ramsay and MacKenzie is part of an ongoing defensive injury crisis as Scotland international Declan Gallagher is also ruled out of the Motherwell game.
The 30-year-old summer signing limped off towards the end of the first half defeat of Hibs with a hamstring injury and has missed the games against Hearts and Rangers.
Scotland international Andy Considine is also out until the new year following surgery on cruciate ligament damage in August.
Another Scotland international centre-back, Mikey Devlin, has yet to play this season due to an ankle injury.
Devlin has stepped up his recovery recently and is now involved in parts of training although his return is not imminent.
In response to the defensive injury problems Glass has played midfielder and captain Scott Brown at centre-half in a back three in recent games.
Brown is likely to anchor the defence against the Steelmen, who beat Aberdeen 2-0 at Fir Park earlier this season.
Glass calls for Aberdeen to set the tone
Glass has put his side on red alert against a Motherwell side hat will be hurting from a heavy 6-1 loss at home to Rangers at the weekend.
He said: “I know how it feels off the back of a defeat that is heavier than it should have been.
“I am sure Motherwell will be coming up with an extra resilience of trying not to get beat while still carrying a threat, but that is nothing new.
“It is a team that has started the season well and received a lot of praise, they will be wanting to get that back again.
📺 All The Angles 📺
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“Motherwell are tough to play against and carry a threat.
“It is important that we impose ourselves on the game and set the tone.
“We have to do what we have over the last few weeks which is be hard to beat whilst carrying a real goal threat.
“If we do that then we have got a group of players who can go and win.”