One of new Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin’s main priorities in the summer transfer window will be to finally sign a replacement for Ylber Ramadani.
It may be a year since Ramadani left Pittodrie but the void left by the midfielder’s exit has yet to be filled.
That was costly last season as the failure to replace the Albanian international was a contributing factor to the disappointing Premiership campaign.
Ramadani was such an important cog in the Aberdeen machine during his sole season at Pittodrie in 2022-23.
He was the complete midfielder who brought everything to the Dons and his transfer to Italian Serie A Lecce left a gaping hole.
Ramadani is a superb player who has an exceptional work-rate, passion, fight, skill, leadership and game vision.
He is capable of dominating midfield and brought a real edge and bite to that area for Aberdeen.
Ramadani has made a major impact in the Italian top flight to the extent Serie A champions Inter Milan were reportedly considering a move to sign him.
He is also set to star in Euro 2024 finals with Albania who will face Spain, Croatia and Italy in a daunting Group B.
That Ramadani seamlessly slotted into the Italian top flight and was attracting interest from Inter underlines the quality of the midfielder.
When you don’t replace a player of his stature it backfires- and that is what happened to Aberdeen in the recently completed campaign.
The failure to fill the role Ramadani occupied was a major contributing factor to Aberdeen’s failure to deliver a clean sheet for much of last term.
Ramadani had provided that defensive midfield barrier in front of the defence.
It is important Thelin becomes the manager to finally address that Ramadani question – a year after he transferred out of the club.
Filling that Ramadani void is even more crucial this summer as it looks certain midfielder Connor Barron will exit the club.
Barron’s contract expired at the end of the recently finished campaign and he has not agreed a new deal.
Pittodrie youth academy graduate Barron is an exciting talent and was key to the unbeaten Premiership run at the end of the season under then interim boss Peter Leven.
It will be very disappointing to see Barron exit Pittodrie as the form he has shown recently is just the tip of the iceberg.
Barron has been attracting interest from clubs in Italy and I have no doubt he will make a major impact anywhere.
One of the positives of last season was the emergence of American midfielder Dante Polvara.
He delivered consistently high levels of performance and I expect Polvara to be a key first team player under new boss Thelin.
Polvara is a real talent and is beginning to fulfil his potential after a slow start to his Pittodrie career.
New boss Thelin will need players who can perform to a high level week in, week out.
And I believe Polvara has shown he can provide that.
Polvara was trusted by Leven and former manager Barry Robson to start in big games and he never let them down.
He scored against Eintracht Frankfurt and PAOK in the Europa Conference League group stages last season.
The American midfielder also impressed in the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic when the Dons agonisingly lost out in a penalty shoot-out.
Scots boss right to call up Conway
Scotland boss Steve Clarke made the right decision in promoting striker Tommy Conway to his provisional squad for Euro 2024.
Clarke and the Scots were dealt a major blow when striker Lyndon Dykes was ruled out of the Euros after suffering an injury in training.
It left Clarke with only Lawrence Shankland and Che Adams as the only out-and-out strikers in the squad.
So the national boss moved to promote Conway from the under-21s to the the provisional squad for the Euro 2024 finals.
Bristol City striker Conway scored in Scotland under-21s 2-1 defeat by Turkey on Monday.
Conway may only be 21-years-old and uncapped at senior level but Clarke clearly thinks he is ready for the step up.
I’m a firm believer if you are good enough, you are old enough.
Conway scored 10 times in 39 appearances for Bristol City last season.
New York Bulls’ striker Lewis Morgan has been called up to the Scotland squad.
The 27-year-old’s inclusion means Clarke has 28 players to consider for the final selection of 26 that will go to Germany.
Former Celtic, Inter Miami, St Mirren and Sunderland attacker Morgan was twice capped in 2018 by Alex McLeish.
Hopefully Scotland can secure an impressive defeat of Finland in a friendly at Hampden tonight to go to Euro 2024 with winning momentum.
Scott McKenna will be in demand
I’m sure former Aberdeen defender Scott McKenna will be in demand this summer with clubs looking to sign him.
McKenna is now a free agent having left Premier League Nottingham Forest.
The centre-back is a superb player and clubs will be lining up to sign him.
McKenna is also in the Scotland squad for Euro 2024 which is a great shop window.
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