A natural leader who commands respect and leads by example – Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin insists Anthony Stewart ticks all the boxes for club captain.
Summer signing Stewart has been handed the captain’s armband for the new season.
The 29-year-old centre-back replaces keeper Joe Lewis as skipper.
Stewart will lead out the Dons in the season opener against Peterhead in the Premier Sports Cup on Sunday.
Midfielder Ross McCrorie has been named vice-captain.
Goodwin insists Stewart will relish the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of legends like Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Martin Buchan and Stewart McKimmie in captaining the club.
Meanwhile, Goodwin also confirmed Albanian international midfielder Ylber Ramadani is set to finally set to arrive in Aberdeen on Sunday.
Signed more than a month ago, Ramadani’s arrival has been delayed by the Visa process.
Goodwin said: “Anthony is the perfect character for me and ticks all the leadership boxes.
“He is naturally a leader anyway, has a presence in the dressing room and the boys respect him.
“Anthony is also a great age at 29 and has played hundreds of games at a decent level.
“As a manager you want to have that old cliché of five or six leaders out there on the pitch.
“I think we have that within the group.
“But Anthony was a pretty safe decision for me in terms of who gets that captaincy.
“He is a player who I would expect to play regularly for the team and he leads by example.
“That is all you want in a captain. I think he will enjoy the responsibility of wearing the armband and representing this great club.”
Ylber Ramadani finally set to arrive
Centre-back Stewart was signed on a two-year contract this summer following the expiration of his contract with League One Wycombe Wanderers.
He captained the Dons in an impressive debut in the 7-1 friendly defeat of Highland League Brechin City on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ramadani, who signed for the Dons on a three-year deal on June 8, will finally meet up with Aberdeen at the weekend.
That will put the 26-year-old in contention to make his Aberdeen debut in Wednesday’s Premier Sports Cup match with Dumbarton at Pittodrie.
Ramadani was the first signing of the summer transfer window rebuild when secured on a £100,000 transfer from Hungarian club MTK Budapest.
Goodwin had hoped Ramadani would be able to train with the squad in Spain last week as his visa had been processed while they were at the overseas camp.
However, the midfielder was still awaiting his passport to be returned from the Home Office.
That delay meant he was unable to meet the Dons in Alicante.
Goodwin said: “We have also had some great news back with regards to Ylber Ramadani.
“His visa has been completed and he now has his passport back from the Home Office.
“We expect him to be in the country on Sunday.
“So we will look forward to him joining the group for training on Monday which we are all excited about.”
Aberdeen still waiting for Miovski
However, Aberdeen still face a wait for £535,000 signing Bojan Miovski.
North Macedonian international Miovski was also secured from MTK Budapest, on a four year contract.
The 23-year-old trained with the Dons at their Spanish camp last week.
But he was unable to travel to Scotland with the squad as his visa has still to be processed.
Goodwin hopes the bid to get Miovski to Scotland will not be as drawn out as Ramadani’s.
He hopes to have Miovski at Pittodrie within 10 to 14 days.
He said: “The Ramadani thing dragged on a little longer than we anticipated.
“We expected Ylber to be joining us in the middle of our training camp in Spain.
“Unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“I would like to think Miovski will be a lot quicker than the Ramadani one.
“I’m hopeful, best case probably 10 days, worst case, two weeks. I hope.”
Ferguson rested as a precaution
Meanwhile, Goodwin has confirmed wanted man Lewis Ferguson was left out of the squad for the friendly win at Brechin as a precaution.
Aberdeen recently rejected a £2 million bid for the midfielder from Championship Millwall.
Italian Serie A newcomers Lecce and Turkish giants Galatasaray have also been linked with the Scotland international.
Ferguson is also on the radar of Italian Serie A club Cagliari.
Goodwin said: “With Lewis we are well aware of the speculation.
“I don’t want to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes or anything.
“But Lewis was away on international duty and has trained with the group.
“He took a bad knock in one of those games for Scotland and we have just been trying to protect him and make sure we don’t ask too much of him too early on.
“It’s as simple as that really.”
Goodwin’s challenge for Dons to top their League Cup group
Goodwin has made six new signings in a summer rebuild that has already cost close to £1m n transfer fees.
As many as four further signings could be made before the transfer window closes.
Goodwin’s new-look squad will face a first competitive test when starting the season at League One Peterhead on Sunday.
Aberdeen and Peterhead are in a group alongside Raith Rovers, Dumbarton and Stirling Albion.
Goodwin will demand the Dons top the group.
He said: “The onus is on the Premiership team to win the group.
“We have tried to get that across to the players.
“If you win a game, don’t expect to be getting too many pats on the back – because we should be winning those games.
“We are playing against lower league opposition.
“We also have to go into those games with respect for the opposition and make sure we don’t underestimate them.
“That is when the cup upsets can happen.”
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