We are down to days rather than weeks until the transfer window opens, and Aberdeen have much to ponder ahead of the 2025 January wheeling and dealing.
A miserable end to 2024 after the best start of any Dons boss in the club’s history for Jimmy Thelin pretty much sums up just how erratic and unpredictable life can be for an Aberdeen fan.
Thelin has remained, publicly at least, a picture of calm as a sea of unrest swells around his club.
The feelgood factor has been replaced by genuine fears of what lies ahead given the club’s truly remarkable loss of form.
It is no surprise that a loss of form combined with a porous defence and a lack of goal threat has added up to troubling December for the Dons.
But with January almost upon them there is now an opportunity to undertake some remediation at Pittodrie.
Thelin has played down the significance of the window, insisting adding new faces is not the cure-all manoeuvre many believe it to be.
He points to the training ground, working with his players and getting more out of them as being the road ahead.
But that doesn’t mean there are still not big decisions to be made.
Should the Dons cash in or let players leave for free?
Let’s start with the out of contract players and deciding what to do about three regular starters should be top of the list.
Jack MacKenzie, Jamie McGrath and Duk are all free to talk to other clubs about pre-contract deals when the window opens on Wednesday.
MacKenzie and McGrath have been coy on their future, and likely to be sure of offers from interested parties elsewhere.
If they are looking to move on this summer, and a deal can be done in January, Thelin must ponder whether it is better to cut ties now and reinvest whatever fee the club can get or keep the faith with two players who won’t be here come July.
Then there is Duk. He has been kept away from the media following his extended summer holiday, but given his sabbatical from Scotland until September, it would not be a shock if he did move on in this window.
Duk has tried his best since being welcomed back in the fold but the bloom is off the rose for him and Aberdeen.
The Cape Verde international has gone from being a cult hero to a player who shows fleeting glimpses of what he once was but without a goal threat.
What about Angus MacDonald?
You can add a fourth player into the list too in Angus MacDonald.
A popular figure in the dressing room but a peripheral one on the pitch these days, MacDonald has been little more than a squad player since signing a two-year deal in the summer of 2023.
At 32 he wants regular football but it is clear he is not going to get that with Aberdeen.
If the Dons land their man in Latvia captain Kristers Tobers that will only push MacDonald further down the Pittodrie pecking order.
Perhaps it would be in the benefits of all parties for MacDonald to go where he can play an on-field part.
Given his sterling contribution in helping the Dons rise up the league in 2023 to secure a European berth, if he does want to move on and Aberdeen have suitable cover on board, few would begrudge him a fresh start elsewhere.
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