Livingston skipper Nicky Devlin admits walking away from the club will be ‘emotional’.
The 29-year-old is set to depart following Sunday’s Premiership finale away at St Johnstone and admits he can reflect on his four years in West Lothian with pride.
The full-back looks set to join Aberdeen with the final details of the move still to be worked out but he insisted he’s determined to go out on a high at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
He commented: “Four years is a long time in football, so when you know it is coming to an end it is emotional. It’s difficult and it’s because of the people here, the dressing room, the backroom staff and the people behind the scenes.
“It’s a club that do all they can for you and that makes it really hard to leave.
“The high point was winning the League Cup semi-final at Hampden but it is a shame it was during covid and the fans weren’t able to experience that with us. When you win at the national stadium in any competition it is fantastic. That then probably leads to the biggest low, losing the final to St Johnstone.”
Devlin says he wants to help build momentum for the Lions heading into the summer by bowing out on a high, adding: “We have seen before when we have made top six but didn’t finish the season great then started the next season slowly.
“This year was different where we did well and picked up a lot of points before falling away towards the end. It is important to have momentum at the end of the season and we want to do that.”
Devlin, who arrived in West Lothian from Walsall in 2019, insisted the lure of joining Aberdeen was simply too big to turn down, commenting: “It looks like a club on the up and speaking to the manager, he seems like someone who sets up the way I like to play. I think that suits me more than other teams who were interested.
“They have done well and they have the lure of European football. I have never experienced it before and that was a big pull.”
He added: “For the next few years it might make my family’s life a bit easier, I can’t turn that down. Oliver is seven months and Josh is 12, so I had to think about my family with any decision.
“That’s not the motivation though, because if it was all down to money, I would have gone elsewhere. It was a football decision as it is a massive club.”
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here
