Scotland international Lewis Ferguson admits he doesn’t know if he will be at Aberdeen next season.
Italian Serie A club are set to launch a £3.5 million summer transfer swoop for the midfielder.
Cagliari sent a two-man delegation to watch midfielder Ferguson in action in March.
The 22-year-old is contracted to the Dons until summer 2024.
Aberdeen rejected an offer of under £2m for the midfielder from Premier League Watford in May last year.
He admits his ‘head wasn’t really in the right place’ last summer after a move to the world’s richest league fell through.
Ferguson does not want a repeat again this summer.
Asked if he knows where he will be next year, Ferguson said: “No. Not at the moment.
“I’m hoping to get into the Scotland squad (for World Cup play-off and Nations League). That’s my aim.
“In terms of my future, I don’t know – we’ll just have to wait and see.”
‘My head wasn’t in the right place’
Cagliari sent representatives to watch Ferguson in action in the 3-1 win over Hibs at Pittodrie on March 19. Ferguson netted twice from the penalty spot.
The midfielder’s agent Bill McMurdo subsequently had a meeting with Cagliari’s representatives after the Hibs game.
At the end of last season, Aberdeen rejected a bid of just under £2m from Watford.
Ferguson subsequently slapped in a written transfer request, which was immediately rejected by the Dons.
The club is greatly disappointed to have received a written transfer request from midfielder Lewis Ferguson today.
This request was rejected immediately.
More details ⬇️
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) May 19, 2021
Earlier this season, Ferguson admitted he suffered ‘sleepless nights’ last summer worrying about the uncertainty surrounding his future.
He does not want to experience that stress and uncertainty again.
Asked if he was more relaxed about this summer, he said: “I still feel the same way.
“It’s difficult to go through when that is all surrounding you and you can’t really think straight.
“It was honestly so hard for about a month or two and my head wasn’t in the right place.
“It’s a difficult one to go through and I really don’t want to go through that sort of situation again.
“Here’s hoping everything goes smoothly this summer.”
Scotland summer call-up aspirations
Amid a disappointing campaign for Aberdeen, midfielder Ferguson continued to shine, and he is the Reds’ top scorer this season on 16 goals.
Ferguson also made his first Scotland start in a 2-2 friendly draw with Poland in March.
The 22-year-old hopes to be selected for Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the World Cup play-off and Nations League games in June.
Scotland face Ukraine at Hampden on June 1.
The winner will face Wales in the World Cup play-off final in Cardiff on June 5.
Clarke’s squad also face Armenia (home, June 8), Republic of Ireland (away, June 11) and Armenia (away, June 15) in the Nations League.
Plenty possession but no end product
Before the summer break begins, the Reds will call time on the Premiership season with a home clash against St Mirren on Sunday.
Aberdeen are 10th in the Premiership having slumped to a 1-0 loss at St Johnstone.
Ferguson admits the loss in Perth was a microcosm of a failed season – lack of creativity in attack and conceding at the back.
He said: “I’m disappointed in a poor performance.
“It was not good enough in the forward areas.
“We can keep the ball for fun, but it gets you nowhere.
“We don’t break lines enough, don’t create enough chances in the final third and don’t work keepers enough. It has just been the story of the season.
“We defend well for most parts of the game and we give them one chance and they score. Then we are chasing the game.
“St Johnstone are in the position at the minute where they are fighting for their lives so it was going to be so hard to break them down.
“We tried, but the quality was not good enough to win the game.
“We build it up well from back to front, but when we get into forward areas we have to be much better.
“We have to start breaking lines and the final ball has to be much better.”
First start for striker Michael Ruth
Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin handed a first start to striker Michael Ruth, 20, in the loss at St Johnstone.
That was due to the lack of available strikers with regular Premiership experience.
Striker Christian Ramirez returned to the United States, missing the final two games of the campaign.
Attacker Marley Watkins was ruled out with a thigh injury.
Ferguson said: “It’s difficult to throw a young lad in who has not started at this level.
“In this sort of game he was up against three big centre-halves who are going to go and compete for everything.
“It was difficult for Mikey, but I thought he handled it pretty well.”