Boss Jimmy Thelin believes Bojan Miovski’s big money transfer to the Spanish top-flight can help lure signing targets to Aberdeen.
Miovski made his debut for new club Girona as a second half substitute in a 3-0 La Liga loss at Atletico Madrid on Sunday night.
The 25-year-old’s transfer secured the Dons £4.5m up front – but the Pittodrie club could bank as much £9m with achievable add-ons and a sell-on clause.
Miovski is the fourth player in recent seasons to transfer from Aberdeen to one of the Europe’s “big five leagues” for a seven-figure transfer fee.
Scotland international Lewis Ferguson was sold to Italian Serie A Bologna for £3m in summer 2022, with a 20% sell-on clause.
Ylber Ramadani also transferred to the Italian top-flight, with the Albanian international joining Lecce last summer in a £1.2m deal.
Aberdeen youth academy graduate Calvin Ramsay was snapped up by Liverpool in 2022 in a deal that could be worth £6.7m with add-ons.
The Dons received an initial £4.2m for full-back Ramsay, with an additional £2.5m of potential add-ons.
Top clubs in Europe are now monitoring Aberdeen. And Thelin believes ambitious transfer targets will see the Dons as a platform to the big time.
He said: “It (Miovski move) is showing that Aberdeen is a good place to be if you want to achieve something here and ultimately move on.
“They will see the past transfers and Bojan is one more, and we will keep going with that.
“There is that good mix of ambition.
“For a long time now, Aberdeen have done really good work with players also leaving for Italy and the English Premier League.
“This is a good place to grow and continue as a player.
“Aberdeen is a big club with expectations, although it is still a family club inside.”
Aberdeen’s player trading model
Miovski’s club record transfer to Girona is the embodiment of Aberdeen’s player trading model.
The Dons signed the striker for £535,000 from Hungarian club MTK Budapest in summer 2022.
Miovski went on to score 44 goals in two seasons and was being tracked by clubs in England, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.
Aberdeen rejected three previous bids from Girona before securing their valuation of the Pittodrie goal hero.
Thelin said: “That is how the club works with bringing Bojan in and making him grow as a player.
“Bojan had the support of the people here at Aberdeen.
“It is an amazing job they have done and a good journey Bojan is making right now.
“It was a good ending and he was professional all the time he was here.
“Bojan always gave his all in training sessions and full concentration with all the players in the dressing room.
“He deserves the move.”
An environment for players to grow
The potential route available at Aberdeen to one of the top European league – England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – is now clear.
Aberdeen recently fought off competition from clubs in Europe and the American MLS to sign Finland U21 international winger Topi Keskinen.
The 21-year-ol was secured in an £860,000 transfer from Finnish top-flight club HJK Helsinki.
Signed on a four-year deal, Keskinen made an immediate impact when coming off the bench to score on his debut in the 1-0 Premier Sports Cup win against Queen’s Park.
The HJK Helsinki manager who sold Keskinen to Aberdeen, Toni Korkeakunnas, reckons the winger has the potential to move from Pittodrie to the English Premier League.
Thelin said: “There is good staff here and it is a good environment – how the club take care of players.
“There are a lot of things for players to come here for and to grow in strong competition.”
‘Bojan can have a really good future’
Miovski was signed as a replacement for Ukrainian international striker Artem Dovbyk, who was sold by Girona to Roma this summer for €30.5m.
Girona will compete in the Champions League this season.
Thelin is confident the striker will thrive at that level.
He said: “Bojan is a really, really good player.
“He has a presence and is calm when he gets a scoring situation inside the box.
“That is the trick to be so calm and to find solutions with the head, left or right foot and shots from outside of the box.
“If he keeps working, believes in himself and finds a way with his team-mates, Bojan can have a really good future.”
Conversation