Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin feels Bojan Miovski’s goalscoring form is pay back for the club’s tireless research on the striker.
North Macedonian international Miovski has already netted 12 goals since signing with the Dons in the summer.
The 23-year-old is level at the top of the Premiership scoring charts with Rangers’ Antonio Colak.
French top-flight side Stade de Reims are reportedly lining up a £4 million bid for Miovski in the January transfer window.
Goodwin is desperate to retain the striker, who is secured on a long-term contract until summer 2026.
Miovski was Aberdeen’s marquee signing of the summer when bought for £535,000 from Hungarian club MTK Budapest.
Goodwin watched many live streams of Miovski in action for MTK and studied hour upon hour of footage.
Head of recruitment Darren Mowbray also made a number of trips to Hungary to watch the striker in the flesh.
Their diligence paid off as Miovski’s goals have helped fire the Dons to third in the Premiership.
Goodwin said: “We did a lot of research.
“Darren (Mowbray) had seen Bojan a few times live and I’d watched hours and hours of footage of him.
“I watched games live on the internet he was involved in.
“Bojan was kind of playing in a different position with MTK when he was over there.
“But I saw attributes in him that I thought he could be a really good number nine in the Premiership.
“He was playing off the right with MTK, but I believe he’s got all of the physical attributes and the mobility to be a good number nine.
“And thankfully he’s proven that up to now.”
‘He’s got a knack for scoring goals’
Miovski netted a penalty in the 1-0 defeat of Dundee United to send the Dons into the winter break on a high.
MTK Budapest rejected an offer of €1.2 million (£1.03m) from Rapid Vienna for the striker last summer.
It is understood Czech Republic club Slavia Prague were keen on signing Miovski from MTK in January this year.
However, they were quoted a price of between €1.5m to €2m (£1.28m to £1.71m).
Aberdeen beat off competition from clubs in Germany, Belgium, Russia, Hungary, Switzerland and Poland to sign Miovski.
Miovski played in the shock 1-0 World Cup play-off defeat of Italy in March.
He won the flick-on to allow Aleksandar Trajkovski to score the winner against the Euro 2020 champions.
Miovski also played in a World Cup play-off final, losing 2-0 to Portugal.
The Dons striker earned a 13th cap when featuring for North Macedonia in a 1-1 friendly home draw with Finland on Thursday.
Miovski was one of five Aberdeen players who did not travel to the United States for a training camp in Atlanta due to his international commitments.
The others were Ylber Ramadani (Albania), Liam Scales (Republic of Ireland), Connor Barron (Scotland U21s) and Ryan Duncan (Scotland U19s).
Goodwin said: “We don’t want to put too much pressure on Bojan, but he has just got a knack for scoring goals.”
9⃣ 🇲🇰
⚽ An 11th league goal of the season so far for Bojan.#StandFree | @bojanmiovskii pic.twitter.com/rPtlKzOA2M
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) November 13, 2022
Ramadani another find from MTK
MTK Budapest were forced into a fire sale of their overseas talent this summer following their relegation.
Aberdeen were also able to secure Albanian international Ramadani from the Hungarian club for £100,000 – another key addition.
Defensive midfielder Ramadani has started every game since arriving from MTK.
Ramadani was away on international duty last week and featured in Albania’s 3-1 friendly loss to Italy.
The 26-year-old also played in the 2-0 friendly win over Armenia on Saturday.
Goodwin hailed the impact of “intelligent footballer” Ramadani who “snuffs out danger”.
He said: “Ylber has been excellent.
“If you had 11 Ramadanis in your team you would be a very good team, because you know exactly what you are going to get with him.
“He gives his all every week and in training.
“He is a real team player and when someone makes a mistake he always tries to rectify it and bail his team-mate out.
“Ylber is a very intelligent footballer who reads the game so well and snuffs out danger.
“He is just a top, top boy.”
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