Boss Stephen Glass confirmed Ryan Hedges is keeping his ‘options open’ as Aberdeen battle to secure the attacker on a new deal.
Welsh international Hedges’ contract expires at the end of the season and the Dons are keen to tie the play-maker down on a new long-term contract.
Aberdeen are understood to have rejected a bid of under £500,000 from Blackburn Rovers for the 26-year-old towards the end of the summer transfer window.
Hedges is a player in demand and Blackburn were the third English Championship side to attempt to sign the attacker during the summer.
Cardiff City and Ipswich Town were also keen on landing the three-times-capped attacker.
With his contract up next summer, Hedges would be free to talk to any interested clubs when the winter transfer window opens on January 1.
Aberdeen want to prevent that scenario and aim to tie up the 26-year-old’s long-term future to Pittodrie.
Hedges is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury and will miss Saturday’s Premiership clash at Motherwell.
Glass said: ” On his contract, there’s nothing as far as I know and Ryan’s continuing to keep his options open.”
Hedges has been ruled out for almost a month having suffered a hamstring injury in the 2-1 League Cup loss at Championship Raith Rovers on August 15.
The playmaker has already missed four games, including both legs of the Europa Conference League play-off loss to Qarabag of Azerbaijan.
Hedges had netted both goals in the 2-1 defeat of Icelandic side Breidablik at Pittodrie in the earlier round to set up the play-off showdown.
Relief as internationals return unscathed
Although Hedges is out of the Motherwell match, there was relief for Glass that all four players away on international duty returned fit.
Midfielder Lewis Ferguson earned a debut cap for Scotland in the 2-0 World Cup qualifier loss to Group F leaders last week.
The 22-year-old followed that up with a second cap in the 1-0 defeat of Austria in Vienna on Tuesday.
Teenage full-back Calvin Ramsay, 18, played all 90 minutes for Scotland U21s in the 1-1 Euro qualifying draw away to Turkey on Tuesday.
Midfielder Dean Campbell was an unused substitute for the young Scots.
Attacker Niall McGinn started for Northern Ireland in a 1-0 friendly defeat of Estonia on September 5.
The 34-year-old was also an unused substitute in Northern Ireland’s two World Cup qualifiers this month against Lithuania (4-1 win) and Switzerland (0-0).
Glass said: “We’ve got them all back together, which is the good news.
“Fergie, Niall, Calvin, Deano – all the international boys are back.
“We can properly start preparing for the weekend, so good news that they’re all back.”
Decision to be made on David Bates
New signing David Bates is in contention to make his Aberdeen debut at the weekend.
Bates was signed on a three-year deal from German Bundesliga 2 side SV Hamburg prior to the 1-1 draw with Ross County at Pittodrie.
However, he had to watch from the sidelines as Aberdeen waited for international clearance.
Capped four times by Scotland, Bates trained with the Dons squad during the international break.
Bates has yet to play competitively this season and his last game was a 3-0 defeat of O-H Leuven in the Belgian top flight on April 10 during a loan spell at Cercle Bruges.
Boss Glass admits he faces a decision on whether to pitch the centre-back straight in from the start at Fir Park or not.
He said: “David has been in and training, so we are looking forward to getting him working with us.
“We have a decision to make whether he comes straight into the team or not.
“We know the pedigree he’s got and, although he’s not played a lot of football lately, he’s looked good in training.
“So the sooner we get him part of this team and firing the better.”
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