Jim Goodwin expects his red hot Aberdeen stars will be on the radar of bigger clubs at Ibrox on Saturday.
The Dons boss is certain the likes of nine-goal Bojan Miovski and Albania international Ylber Ramadani are already attracting attention while homegrown ace Connor Barron was linked with Celtic in the summer. Goodwin accepts he chance to showcase their talents at big stadiums against the likes of Rangers and Celtic is one of the big attractions for players when they make the switch to Scotland.
And he said: “The big selling points to players like Miovski, Ramadani and others is going to places like Ibrox and Parkhead and the opportunity to go far in domestic cup competitions. There are opportunities for them to raise their profile against some really good quality opposition in good venues. People who are scouting our players – and a lot of our players are getting a lot of plaudits and are grabbing the attention of other clubs – a lot of them will be looking to see how they cope with a hostile environment like Saturday and to see what they are made of.
“We want to get the best out of the boys we have right now. We want them to be at Aberdeen for a long time. We trying to build something here. But when the likes of Miovski and Ramadani are playing at international level, of course they’re going to attract some admirers. Those two, in particular, will not be fazed by going to Ibrox.”
Aberdeen haven’t won any of their last seven visits to Ibrox - a 2-0 Scottish Cup quarter final victory in March 2019 was their last success in Govan. Goodwin hopes to end that run tomorrow and continue the run that has seen his Dons side win three games in six days against Hearts, Partick Thistle and Motherwell.
He said: “The way we have set up in the last week-and-a-half has been good and has earned us some valuable wins. It would be silly of me to make wholesale changes and try to reinvent the wheel.
“People say if it’s not broken why try to fix it and at the moment we are in a good place. Of course Rangers have some real quality in their team that we know can hurt us if the shape of the team defensively is not where it needs to be at.
“We want to try to get the balance right between being a good attacking team, regardless of opposition as this is not just about Saturday. In every game we go into we want to be recognised as a good attacking team that plays good possession football.
“A team that is always trying to play forward and create opportunities. But on the flip side of that we want to be well organised and hard to beat.
“To do that you need to be very disciplined. That is something the guys are starting to get to grips with.
“It is still a relatively new group in the grand scheme of things with a dozen new faces. They are still trying to get to know one another and get to understand what I am asking them to do.
“I certainly think it is coming to the fore and that we are improving as a group. I don’t think we are anywhere near the potential that the group is capable of."
