Aberdeen manager Barry Robson is disappointed Duk has failed to make the shortlist for the PFA Scotland player of the year award.
Celtic captain Callum McGregor and his team-mates Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate are on the four-man shortlist along with Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen.
Robson believes Cape Verde international Duk, who has scored 18 goals and has six assists in his 40 appearances for the club in his debut season in Scottish football, was deserving of a nomination.
He said: “I’m a bit surprised, yeah. That’s not to take away from the other players who have been terrific.
“It’s not easy to get into that select few. I see Duk is included in the team of the year.
“You need to remember that some of the other players’ performances in there have been really high.
“Some of the Celtic players have been outstanding and I think big van Veen at Motherwell has scored 25 goals this season, which is a terrific return.
“He’s done really well.
“I’m just biased because I love the boys here and they’ve been great for me. Every manager will be the same.
“We just need to keep performing well and hopefully score a right few more goals before the end of the season, when maybe the vote should’ve been done.”
‘He’s a pleasure to work with’
Duk’s impressive campaign has led to him attracting interest from clubs in England and in Europe.
The former Benfica attacker’s qualities on the field have been clear for all to see but Robson insists the forward’s attitude has been equally impressive.
He said: “He’s brilliant. He takes on information, he’s humble and he wants to do well. He’s a good team-mate.
“You can see him struggling a wee bit with the language, especially when he’s trying to listen to me.
“I think he understands Aggers (assistant manager Steve Agnew) a bit better than me. That’s why I just walk him into positions.
“But he’s a great kid, honestly you would love him. He’s a pleasure to work with.
“There’s been lots of stuff we’ve worked on. We’ve had to be careful that there’s not been a real information overload.
“There’s a certain type of way we want to play, there’s a lot of structure we build in to let us be good at attacking.
“It’s far too much detail to go into, but it’s every day, there’s a lot of analysis and screens.
“There’s lots of stuff that goes on in the training pitch every day.
“There’s a lot of communication but we need to go into it in a simplistic form.
“But Duk takes everything in.”
Robson named manager of the month for second month running
Duk’s displays of recent weeks helped the Dons boss pick up his second successive Premiership manager of the month award.
Robson’s Reds won all four of their matches in April without conceding a goal ensuring the Dons boss was the first Aberdeen manager to win the award back-to-back since Derek McInnes in August and September 2015.
Robson said: “It is all down to the players and the staff.
“We have all worked hard and we have done alright over the last couple of months, so everyone together we can all accept the award together, all the staff right throughout the club.
“It was good and we are nice and pleased but we move on.”
With four games remaining the Dons boss remains focused on trying to secure a third-place finish but he also has players returning from loan after their respective campaigns ended.
The Aberdeen manager said: “The likes of Dean Campbell I’ve spoken to. We’ve also got Jack Milne and Kieran Ngwenya coming back from loan too.
“I’ve said to them they need to focus on the gym work, for now, to prepare their bodies for next season, to get bulked up.
“It’s a good couple of weeks for them when they can’t play for us.
“We might take them out training on a couple of days but it’s more to get them focussed and ready for next year.”
Anthony Stewart’s loan with MK Dons has also ended while Connor McLennan is in the final weeks of his loan deal at St Johnstone.
Stewart has a year remaining on his contract while McLennan’s Dons deal is due to expire in the summer.
Robson said: “We’ve got a lot of decisions to make about a lot of players. Once I’ve spoken to them about that I can let you know.”
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