New York Red Bulls and other clubs tracking Sam Cosgrove will have to stump up big money to secure him in January.
Aberdeen are in a strong financial position and debt free so there is no rush to offload the prolific striker.
Already on 21 goals this season Cosgrove is such an important player for Aberdeen.
That was underlined when he won and converted the penalty to beat Dumbarton 1-0 in the Scottish Cup.
I am sure manager Derek McInnes will be desperate to hold on to Cosgrove in this window.
When you have a gem like Cosgrove you do not want to lose him.
The winter window is not the best time to be losing key players or searching for replacements.
McInnes will be hoping he is not presented with the situation this month where he has to find a replacement for his top scorer.
To find another gem like Cosgrove to contribute the amount of goals he has over the last two seasons would be incredibly difficult.
The management, the coaching staff and scouting staff should take a lot of credit for spotting the talent Cosgrove has.
Ultimately the reality is that if the money is right then players can move on.
However, it would take an awful lot of cash to entice Cosgrove away from the club. Whether the Red Bulls or any of the other clubs monitoring the striker are willing to do that this month remains to be seen.
Aberdeen are trying to strengthen in January and not lose key players.
They have attempted to push through a deal to land St Johnstone winger Matty Kennedy during this window.
Kennedy has already agreed a pre-contract to join Aberdeen in the summer for next season.
However, if the Dons can persuade St Johnstone to take a bit of cash for the final six months of Kennedy’s deal to get him this month, that would be a real positive.
Kennedy is a player who can add a spark of creativity.
I am not surprised at the players who have been targeted by the manager in this transfer window.
New signing Dylan McGeouch and Kennedy are both players who can create and bring a spark.
At times that has been lacking in the team so far this season.
Results on a number of occasions have been good but the quality of play could be better.
McGeouch and Kennedy could both bring what has perhaps been lacking at times in the first half of the season. With that quality added the hope would be that it could be a successful second half of the season.
Aberdeen will be gunning for a successful Scottish Cup run.
At this stage of the tournament getting through to the next round is all that matters.
The priority for Aberdeen was to ensure they were not the victim of a shock and not dumped out by a team they should be comfortably taking care of.
The Dons left it late against League One Dumbarton but they are into the fifth round.
Although it was not an inspiring performance it was a case of job done and now move on.
The cups are the best opportunity for teams like Aberdeen outside Celtic and Rangers to lift silverware.
The Dons have enjoyed good cup runs in previous years under Derek McInnes and there is no reason why it should not be on the agenda to have another strong cup run this season.
If they were to win the Scottish Cup it would be the highlight of most of the players’ careers.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.
