Aberdeen: McInnes wants answers from Shinnie & Mackay-Steven in January
- Published
Shinnie and Mackay-Steven are out of contract in the summer
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes says Graeme Shinnie and Gary Mackay-Steven "owe it" to him and the club to say in January whether they want to stay.
Both players are out of contract in the summer.
McInnes says the pair have shown a "willingness" to consider new deals - but wants clarity by next month.
"I'm hopeful we'll get answers from both in January one way or the other because that would be good for my planning," he said.
"I think they would owe that to me, to be fair to me and the club.
"But both lads have indicated a real willingness to really consider staying and hopefully that will be the outcome. It's something I've been used to as a manager here, losing a lot of good players every summer, and it's something you have to deal with."
Captain Shinnie, 27, has been at Pittodrie since 2015, while winger Mackay-Steven, 28, joined from Celtic in 2017.
McInnes hopes to make additions to his squad in January, especially if he is still short on defensive options through injury.
"I'd like to strengthen certain areas - how active and busy we'll be will be determined on a lot of things; injured players coming back, the form of certain players," he said.
"Defensively, we've been really short with injuries, with {Michael] Devlin, [Tommie] Hoban and [Mark] Reynolds - we've been working with four defenders for the last six games or so and that can't continue.
"Hopefully we get those boys back, but it's clear we'd still like to bring attacking options to the team."