Aberdeen 'very difficult to deal with' if clubs want Duk or Miovski
- Published
Luis 'Duk' Lopes and Bojan Miovski have formed a potent attacking partnership at Pittodrie
Aberdeen will be "very difficult to deal with" if there is interest in Luis 'Duk' Lopes and Bojan Miovski, chief executive Alan Burrows has vowed.
Miovski has scored 19 goals this season, while Duk is on 18, with five league matches remaining.
Both strikers are 23-years-old and joined in the summer of 2022, Miovski on a four-year-deal and Duk under contract until 2025.
"We are under no pressure to sell," said Burrows.
"If anybody wants to take our best assets away from us, particularly ones on long contracts, we are going to be very difficult to deal with."
Miovski, a North Macedonia international, arrived from Hungarian side MTK Budapest for an undisclosed fee. Duk, capped by Cape Verde, came from the Benfica B team.
"We have to marry up a model, developing players through the academy or ones we bring in, like Duk, Miovski and Ylber Ramadani to develop and sell on," said Burrows.
"At the same time we want to be successful, so we have to balance that and make sure we build a squad rather than consistently chipping away at it. In order to do that we need to retain the best value for these players.
"The board here have done that before, they have knocked back big offers and I sense from the ownership group that they are more than prepared to do that again."
Robson 'looking forward to summer'
Two of Aberdeen's back three - Mattie Pollock and Liam Scales - are loan players
Burrows' words will be a comfort to Barry Robson, who is relishing the prospect of his first transfer window as manager as he aims to "keep building" on an impressive start.
Now that the 44-year-old has the security of a permanent deal he is keen to cement third place in the Premiership and start planning for the next campaign.
"We are looking forward to the summer," said Robson.
"Hopefully we can keep players and bring some new ones in and keep building."
Aberdeen currently have eight players on loan, including skipper Graeme Shinnie, Liam Scales, Mattie Pollock and Leighton Clarkson.
Matty Kennedy and Marley Watkins are soon out of contract, but Angus MacDonald and Jonny Hayes have already agreed new deals, along with Ryan Duncan.
"We are very active," said Robson. "We want the right people; people who can handle playing for Aberdeen. That is built on hard work, desire and wanting to run for your club. Technical ability and other factors are secondary after that.
"We'll take our time and make sure things are done right.
"The club won't be reckless (in terms of spending). I would never want that as a fan. It's a well run club and we need to keep it that way."
Robson replaced Jim Goodwin at the tail end of January and in March was assured of staying on until at least the end of the season.
On Monday, he was rewarded with a two-year contract extension, with his team on a seven-match winning streak and five points clear of Hearts.
Robson has been reluctant to set targets since stepping into the manager's role.
Of the remaining fixtures, he said: "It's five cup finals. We need to go in full throttle. Finishing high as possible is the most important thing, but it won't be easy."
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