Barry Robson has given Vicente Besuijen and Anthony Stewart pre-season to salvage their Aberdeen careers.
The pair have returned to the Dons for training after indifferent loan spells last season. Dutch midfielder Besuijen went to Excelsior but his time there was wrecked by injury. One of Robson’s first moves as manager was to tell the-then captain Stewart he was unlikely to feature and he went out on loan to MK Dons on January’s deadline night.
Robson, when asked what he said to Besuijen and Stewart on their return, said: “Just come in and work hard. You have got the opportunity to perform in pre-season for yourself and myself. They are all good boys who are willing and wanting to do well. They came back in good shape. It is the same with everyone else, there is competition for places here.
"Everyone is going to need to work hard every day and everybody is going to need to perform. And if you don’t you will not find yourself in the team.”
The Dons head to Portugal this weekend for their pre-season training camp. It is where the hard work starts as Aberdeen gear up for their Premiership kick-off. They will head to Livingston and Robson knows what to expect from Davie Martindale’s side. Robson said: “I had a look through the fixtures this morning.
“It is always a difficult game down at Livingston, we understand that. We are desperate to get going.
“Any game is a good game in this league although it is hard. We are excited about the season starting. Have you ever heard that saying from me, a game at a time?
“I never get too carried away and I never get ahead of myself. I never let the players get ahead of themselves either. We have a plan. We are structured and organised and the main focus will be on that one game against Livingston.”
Robson knows Portugal will provide the base for their domestic and European campaign. He also sees it as key to integrating his new signings like Ester Sokler, Rhys Williams and Nicky Devlin. Robson stated: “It is quite warm over there and I like to work players in the heat and the stress which is normally pretty good.
“We will do two sessions every day. It is good to get away and get full focus on everyone. Some of the new lads coming in, it is good for them to get around the rest of the players. And they will see the culture that we build here. It will be a great trip for us and we look forward to it.”
Aberdeen might be away but Robson will still be actively trying to add to his squad. He added: “We are still looking a bit light in numbers but have managed to add some players which I think everyone will be pleased about. We need to be diligent on bringing other ones in.
“I don’t want to rush it as I want to make sure it is right. Hopefully we can add something to the team that can make us better.”
Aberdeen return to two local friendlies against Turriff United and Fraserburgh before they step it up with tough away games at Preston and Charlton Athletic. Robson admitted he decided to go down that route to get his players ready for the demands of European group stage and domestic football.
Robson, speaking to RedTV, acknowledged: “Yes. I would be lying if I didn’t say that. We will be away at Preston and Charlton which will be two very difficult games.
“We will have to travel away quite a lot on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the coming months. So it is a bit of preparation for that as well and the standard of opposition is very high with the two teams we will play. It is a good test for us before we go into the season but we are trying to get ahead of the game and get everyone prepared for what is going to come.”
