Sean Wallace: Aberdeen transfer guru will need to maximise Euro contacts to land striker in January window

Aberdeen will have to pull a rabbit from a hat to land an established and in-form goal-scoring striker during the January transfer window.

Manager Jimmy Thelin has already added four new signings this month but securing reinforcements for a misfiring attack remains a priority.

The only problem is January is a notoriously difficult window to land a striker with a proven track record of scoring who is fully fit.

If a centre-forward is banging in goals a club is reluctant to sell him in the winter window as that exit could have a major negative impact on the rest of their season.

Which is why the price for a goalscorer could get ramped up even higher this month.

Let’s be honest, a club is only willing to let a striker exit in January if it is for a major fee or if the player is out of the team, out of form or recently returned from injury.

Either way it makes landing a striker that can come in and immediately deliver goals problematic.

Loan deals can be problematical

If a striker is struggling to score at their current club why move for him?

Unless the chasing manager has identified something that can end the goal drought.

And if a centre-forward is out of the team or battling back from injury it could take valuable time to get up to full match sharpness.

That is why a loan move for a striker in January rarely works out because a club will only offload them if they are not playing or not scoring.

In recent years Aberdeen have struggled to secure a striker in the January window that has gone on to make an immediate and consistent impact.

The permanent signing of Adam Rooney from Oldham in January 2014 is the exception.

Rooney scored on his debut two days after signing in a 2-2 draw at Motherwell.

He netted in six of his first eight games and scored the winning penalty in the League Cup final shoot-out win against Inverness Caley Thistle in March 2014.

Rooney would go on to become a club legend, netting 87 goals in 194 appearances.

Forgettable January 2021 window

Welsh international Simon Church was also a positive addition having signed on loan from MK Dons in the 2016 winter window.

Church scored on his debut in a 2-1 win against Celtic at Pittodrie.

He scored six league goals as Aberdeen finished runners-up in the Premiership.

Rooney and Church apart, the majority of strikers signed in January have failed to make an impact.

A case in point is January 2021 when Aberdeen sold striker Sam Cosgrove to Birmingham City for a fee understood to be £2million.

That triggered a scramble to fill the scoring void.

Three strikers were secured on loan on transfer deadline day – Florian Kamberi (St Gallen), Fraser Hornby (Reims) and Callum Hendry (St Johnstone).

They delivered a combined total of five goals for Aberdeen.

Transfer guru’s European contacts

Which is where Aberdeen’s recently appointed head of recruitment Nuno de Almeida’s European contacts will come into play.

De Almeida stepped up to that role having been the Dons’ international scout and consultant.

He has a wide knowledge of the European transfer market and contacts that could find a striking gem this month.

De Almeida spent eight years in a major scouting role at Portuguese giants Porto, with both a domestic and international focus.

He was also chief-scout for Thelin at Elfsborg in Sweden before taking on a chief scout role at Rio Ave in Portugal, where he became sporting director.

Prior to moving to the Dons, De Almeida was a senior scout with the Qatar Sports League identifying strikers.

He can hopefully pull that striker rabbit out of the hat.