Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

AWOL striker Duk returned to Aberdeen in better shape than he was in last season, says Nicky Devlin

Aberdeen full-back Devlin has revealed Duk said sorry to all of his team-mates at a squad meeting for going AWOL.

Duk celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt. Image: SNS
Duk celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0 against Eintracht Frankfurt. Image: SNS.

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.

Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS
Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park. Image: SNS

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.”

Aberdeen defender Nicky Devlin. Image: SNS

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.

Returning attacker Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS
Returning attacker Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS

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 during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS
Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS

‘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.

Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS
Duk during an Aberdeen training session at Cormack Park, on September 13, 2024. Image: SNS

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.”

Aberdeen right-back Nicky Devlin at Cormack Park. Image: SNS

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.

Kevin Nisbet scores against Ross County for Aberdeen FC.
Aberdeen’s Kevin Nisbet celebrates after scoring to make it 1-0 against Ross County. Image: SNS

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.”

Conversation