Aberdeen have instantly rejected a transfer request from Scott McKenna.
Celtic had a £3.5m bid for the defender rejected a year ago with the hoops linked with a renewed bid in December before the arrival of Christopher Jullien for £7m from Toulouse.
McKenna is under contract until 2023 but signed that deal before he earned the first of 12 Scotland caps that attracted offers from Celtic and Aston Villa last summer.
Derek McInnes has developed the defender from a loanee doing nothing in particular at Ayr United into a player in demand but the timing of his transfer request hasn’t gone down well with the Pittodrie club.
The Sun reports:
McKenna has been the subject of £3million bids from QPR and Nottingham Forest recently, with other clubs in England also keeping tabs on his situation ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline. Celtic have also been long-term admirers.
The Dons feel McKenna has received bad advice from his agent in handing in his demand – but that WON’T deter Derek McInnes from playing him against Rijeka this week. As things stand, the centre half will be heading to Aberdeen airport on Wednesday morning with the rest of his team-mates.
Aberdeen will be without Mikey Devlin and Ash Taylor for Thursday’s match against Rijeka which takes place just after the English transfer deadline closes. A transfer fee of £3m is likely to provide McKenna with a weekly wage of at least £20,000 with his Dons deal unlikely to be paying him more than £3,000/week.
As things stand Celtic aren’t in any rush for a new central defender but that could change if rumoured interest in Jozo Simunovic turns into a confirmed bid.
