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Paul Third: Lewis Ferguson will not be allowed to leave Aberdeen on the cheap

Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson
Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson is a wanted man.

Is it a case of one out, one to follow for Aberdeen?

Calvin Ramsay’s completion of his move from the Dons to Liverpool on Sunday ended six months of speculation about the teenager.

But, as Ramsay embarks on a new challenge in trying to break into the first team of the Anfield Reds, we could see one of his team-mates make the move to England, too.

If there is one player at Pittodrie who could empathise with the now-departed Ramsay in understanding what it feels to have your future speculated about at every turn it is Lewis Ferguson.

Ramsay is about to turn 19. Ferguson will be 23 in August. But both have been linked with pastures new for months.

Aberdonian Ramsay has gone first, leaving for a club record sale for the European champions. But whether Ferguson’s future lies at Pittodrie is another conundrum yet to be solved.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp spoke of the ‘bags of potential’ Ramsay has after landing his man on Sunday. Aberdeen were keenly aware of that potential, too, which is why they held out for an improved offer before cashing in their chips as it were.

Ferguson, however, finds himself in a slightly different situation.

Ferguson is a proven commodity

At 22, Ferguson is not a player potential suitors would regard as a project signing, someone with potential to make the grade at first team level.

He would be expected to hit the ground running at his next place of work should he leave Pittodrie.

But, for some reason, clubs just cannot seem to get near to Aberdeen’s valuation.

Watford were prepared to go as high as £2 million for Ferguson after winning promotion to the Premier League in May last year.

Their interest, and Aberdeen’s rejection of two bids, led to Ferguson submitting a transfer request.

Italian club Cagliari chanced their arm with an offer to sign Ferguson on loan in January this year with an obligation to buy the player for £3.5m if they avoided relegation from Serie A.

That, too, was knocked back by the Dons.

Now, more than a year later – and with the player’s request to leave the club yet to be withdrawn – Millwall, who finished ninth in the Championship last month, have tabled a £1.5m offer for Ferguson.

It remains well short of Aberdeen’s valuation of their player – and the Dons have every justification in resisting such a paltry sum for a player who still has two years remaining on his contract.

Why Aberdeen are right to resist offers for Ferguson

Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson has four international caps for Scotland.

Ferguson ended last season as the club’s leading goalscorer. He made his fourth appearance for Scotland when he came off the bench in the 4-1 Nations League win in Armenia less than a week ago.

A virtual ever-present, when fit Ferguson plays for his club and has done so since the day he arrived from Hamilton in 2018.

Had that offer been made 12 months from now then, the Dons would have given it greater thought.

After all, they would be six months away from potentially losing the player for nothing should he sign a pre-contract agreement with another club.

But they are not at that point yet.

Ferguson, to his credit, has remained professional throughout all of this. It would have been easy to down tools and then moan until he got his own way.

But he hasn’t.

It would not be outlandish to suggest the chances of Ferguson extending his deal with the Dons is slim.

He wants a new challenge, but if he has to wait for his current deal to run out then so be it.

That strengthens Aberdeen’s hand.

It has become clear, if it was not already, any club chasing Ferguson now needs to be offering much more.

The Dons hold the aces here, especially after banking a club record fee for the sale of Ramsay.

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