Aberdeen boss McInnes kept tabs on Ferguson

Posted Sunday, May 06, 2018 by PA

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes admitted he has had his eye on Lewis Ferguson for a while after agreeing a pre-contract with the midfielder.

The Dons announced on Saturday that the Hamilton man would be moving to Pittodrie at the end of the season after failing to agree a new deal at his club.

The 18-year-old only broke into the Accies first team in January and has gone on to make 14 appearances but, the latest of which came against Ross County last week.

Hamilton manager Martin Canning admitted after his side’s defeat to Dundee that the club had tried to tie him down to a new deal, but it was announced that he would be following former skipper Michael Devlin to the Dons and McInnes is impressed with the potential of his new man.

“We cannot always go and get ready-made players at Aberdeen, but we can identify good youngsters and Lewis is one I have watched and liked for a while,” he said. “When he first got into the Hamilton development teams and played against us we took a closer look at him.

“It became known to us a few weeks ago that he had failed to negotiate a deal to re-sign at Hamilton so we took advantage of that and we are delighted to get him.

“He is 18, six foot one, strong, can do a bit of everything and I think he will only get better.

“He played with an edge but has two good feet and is technically good. He is young in his years but we feel he has the potential to be an Aberdeen player.”

Canning had earlier said: “The club has been speaking to him for the last couple of months about staying so it’s not caught us on the hop.

“We have a wage structure we work within and we have been speaking to Fergie and it’s not been able to get over the line.”