McInnes: "It's always with a heavy heart when you lose good ones. But he's one who is deserving of another opportunity to push on"
Sunday 20 September 2020 19:27, UK
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes expects Scott McKenna has played his last game for the club after they received a "significant" offer for the defender from an English side, believed to be Nottingham Forest.
The 23-year-old Scotland international was not included in Aberdeen's squad on Sunday for the Scottish Premiership defeat to Motherwell at Pittodrie.
Forest had two offers for McKenna turned down last summer while Aberdeen rejected a £7m bid from Aston Villa two years ago - with Celtic, Stoke and Queens Park Rangers also previously linked with the centre-back.
McKenna has been a mainstay in the heart of Aberdeen's defence since his breakthrough three years ago, going on to make 119 appearances in all competitions and helping the Dons finish second in the 2017-18 campaign.
Aberdeen rejected a formal transfer request from McKenna last summer, but boss McInnes feels the time is now right for his player to move on.
"I'm pretty sure they're close to a fee being agreed and Scott is on his way down south to try and get things concluded," he said on Sunday. "I'm pretty sure that's the way it is and I'd be surprised if it fell through.
"Scott was always going to move at some point. I'd prefer to speak more when it's concluded but he's a player with 16 caps and at the age of 23 he's only going to improve.
Scott was always going to move at some point. I'd prefer to speak more when it's concluded.
"He's not just a good player, he's a brilliant person and a great boy and I've enjoyed working with him. It's always with a heavy heart when you lose good ones. But he's one who is deserving of another opportunity to push on.
"Wherever he ends up he'll have a good career, there's no doubt about it, because he treats everything properly, whether it's a passing drill or recovery after games, everything is 100 per cent.
"There's no doubt we'll miss that player and person and we certainly could have done with him today. We weren't encouraging bids but we expected bids as soon as the Championship got up and running.
"The way Scott has been and his form, you'd need to be living on Mars to not see how well he's been playing. His stats are right up there with anybody in our league. We were allowed to bring Tommie Hoban and Ross McCrorie in as part of that process to deal with McKenna leaving."
McKenna grew up supporting Celtic, who reportedly had been preparing a £10m bid in 2018, which never materialised as the Glasgow side ended their interest.
Forest, meanwhile, missed out on the Championship play-offs last season by the finest of margins and decided in the summer to stick with head coach Sabri Lamouchi.
They have lost their opening two matches of the 2020/21 campaign to QPR and Cardiff respectively.
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