Striker Duk returned to Aberdeen after going AWOL in better shape than he in was last season, insists full-back Nicky Devlin.
Duk recently came back to the Dons after going AWOL for almost three months having said he hoped to secure a transfer away from Pittodrie during the summer window.
Defender Devlin sits next to the Cape Verde attacker in the Cormack Park dressing room and says Duk is in “great shape”.
Devlin revealed the first thing Duk did on his return to the club was apologise to his team-mates at a squad meeting.
The players have accepted the apology and welcomed him back to the fold.
And Devlin insists Duk’s attitude and performance levels in training indicates he wants to be at Aberdeen.
Devlin said: “Duk has come back in great shape, to be fair to him.
“I think he came back in better shape than he was in when he left last season.
“He looks really good and has trained really well this week.
“In training he has looked sharp and been able to do everything we have done.
“From my point of view, watching him train now, it looks like he wants to be here.
“That Duk wants to do well for Aberdeen and that’s all you can ask of any of your teammates.
“On the tactical side the manager has made some changes in the way we play so he is probably trying to get Duk up to speed on that.
“Duk is maybe going to be involved in the next few weeks hopefully.”
Duk said sorry to team-mates
Aberdeen confirmed last weekend that Duk was returning and issued an apology from the attacker on the club’s official website.
However the 24-year-old also said sorry to the players at a meeting.
Devlin said: “The biggest thing is the first thing Duk wanted to do was take charge of the meeting we had and apologise for his part.
“He felt he had made a mistake.
“I think everyone, all the players, new, old, whatever, you can only take Duk for what he is just now, since he’s come back in.
“We don’t know the ins and outs of everything that’s happened.
“So you can only take it at almost face value.
“He’s come in and he sits beside me now in the dressing room.
“So I’ve probably seen him a wee bit more than I did even before.
“When he’s came back in the building, he’s worked as hard as anybody.
“As players, I think that’s all you can ask for.
“He obviously made it clear that he made a mistake.
“He said that publicly, he said it to us in private in the meeting.
“So, from that point of view if he works hard, does his job every day, plays to the best he can, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
‘Duk is popular in the dressing room’
Signed from Portuguese giants Benfica in summer 2022 Duk won Aberdeen’s player of the year award in his debut season.
In that first season he netted 18 goals but failed to reproduce that form last term with only seven goals.
Duk was an ebullient, popular character in the dressing room during those two seasons.
Devlin insists that has not changed despite his recent absence from the club.
He said: “It’s good to have him about his place. He’s a good character.
“Duk was bubbly, so having a face like that back is always nice.
“He has tried to be Duk and I think if you ask any of the players, especially the ones who were here last year, that’s who you want him to be.
“You don’t want him to come back in and be a different person because of what went on.
“Duk is popular in the dressing room and gets on with everyone.”
Winning run during Duk absence
Duk’s extended absence prompted Aberdeen to launch internal disciplinary action against the attacker during the summer.
During his time AWOL the Dons’ form did not suffer as they have won nine games from nine under boss Jimmy Thelin this season.
They will bid to extend that perfect start when hosting Motherwell in the Premiership on Saturday.
Was Duk going AWOL distracting?
Devlin said: “It was one of them, probably because we had new players coming in and boys were playing almost in the position that Duk was playing in.
“I don’t mean you can’t just forget about it.
“But you try and move on because you can only work with what’s in the building at the time.
“I think when you’re winning games, it probably made it a little bit easier as well to just concentrate on who was in the building and what we could do.
“But as a player, you don’t have any control, you don’t have any influence over what’s going on with players.
“It’s not something you can try and get too caught up on, to be honest.”
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