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Barry Robson: Darren Mowbray’s departure won’t hinder Aberdeen’s recruitment plans

Aberdeen's head of recruitment will join Southampton on July 1.

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson. Image: SNS.
Aberdeen manager Barry Robson. Image: SNS.

Aberdeen boss Barry Robson is confident the imminent departure of his head of recruitment won’t have an adverse impact on his transfer window plans.

Darren Mowbray, who joined the Dons from Burnley in 2021, is leaving the club on July 1 to join Southampton.

It is far from ideal timing for the Dons with Robson expecting plenty of arrivals and departures at Pittodrie during the summer transfer window.

Mowbray, 47, played a key role in helping bring a number of Aberdeen’s top players to Pittodrie, including Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes, Bojan Miovski and Ylber Ramadani.

But Robson says the bulk of the recruitment work carried out by Mowbray and his team for the summer transfer window is already in place.

He told the club website: “There is a lot of work that has been done.

“The sooner we get another head of recruitment in the better.

“We wish Darren well but we are on the case with the types of players we are looking for.

“We are speaking to a lot of these players at the minute.

“Fingers crossed we can get some of them over the line.

“I’m hopeful we will do well on the recruitment side.

“It is not just one player we are targeting, we have a lot of players in a lot of different positions that we are looking at.

“We are having conversations with them and hopefully we can get some of them over the line.”

Leighton Clarkson and Mattie Pollock had successful loan spells at Aberdeen. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson

Eight players joined the club on loan during the 2022-23 season with Liam Scales, Hayden Coulson and Leighton Clarkson arriving at the start of the campaign.

Graeme Shinnie, Patrik Myslovic, Mattie Pollock, Jay Gorter and Dilan Markanday joined the club during the January window on loan deals until the end of the season.

Robson does not want to be as reliant on loan players next season.

He said: “We would probably like to cut the loans down a bit but loan players are important.

“Sometimes you can get a player at the club who we normally couldn’t afford or who would be out of our reach.

“They can come in and improve the squad and help some of our younger players and the ones we have got signed.

“It is about getting the balance right across the squad.”

Recruitment is the hardest part

The new Dons boss took over as interim manager a couple of days before the January window closed and oversaw the arrivals of Pollock, Gorter and Markanday while allowing Anthony Stewart and Vicente Besuijen to head out on loan to MK Dons and Excelsior Rotterdam respectively.

This will be Robson’s first full transfer window in charge and he admits getting recruitment right is pivotal to bringing success to the club.

He said: “I am very fussy.

“It is definitely the hardest part in football.

“You can get someone who is mentally and physically right and sometimes it still doesn’t work at clubs.

“You have seen that over the years many times.

“We try to cover all bases but sometimes people don’t adapt when they are away in different situations.

“It is never easy and it takes time for some to bed in.

“We look into real depth at every aspect of a player.

“If we can do as well with that as we can then it gives you every chance the player will be a success.

“And when they are here we have to coach them and try to make them better.”

Robson believes finding players who are capable of embracing the pressure of playing for Aberdeen is hugely important when weighing up potential deals.

He added: “I’m not sure ability is the main thing. I have seen a lot of players with a lot of ability who can’t perform on the big stage.

“It can be difficult to get the ones with the right mindset and mentality.

“They want to be part of the culture and be good people.

“We like to have speed in our team and drive.

“There is a whole lot of things we look for – their technical side, their physical side, their mental side.

“We look in-depth at all of these things.”

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