Derek McInnes is not happy Inverness refused to sell Greg Tansey to Aberdeen

Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes would like to see an investigation by football authorities into the club's failed attempts to sign Inverness CT midfielder Greg Tansey.

McInnes claims he is baffled by Caley Thistle's refusal to allow Tansey permission to speak to Aberdeen, who believe they triggered a clause in his contract by submitting a £200,000 bid.

The Dons did complete the signing of striker Simon Church from MK Dons on loan, but McInnes appears aggrieved that the Highlanders did not allow Tansey to leave

McInnes told Sky Sports: "We've put an offer in for Greg. We felt that we met a clause in his contract that was indicated to us that would allow Greg to join us, but he isn't here and you'd need to ask others why he is not here.

"We're disappointed, we put a lot of work into it, we saw him, in light of the injuries we've got, as someone who could come in and help us now. And while we had targeted two players, we got one in Simon Church, we didn't get the other."

Aberdeen now go into their match against Premiership leaders Celtic having failed to secure cover for injured midfielders Ryan Jack and Willo Flood.

And the Dons manager reckons Inverness counterpart John Hughes has been sympathetic regarding the situation.

"There has to be some sort of guidance as to how these things can be resolved quickly," McInnes said.

"Greg's agent told us about the clause weeks ago. We met the clause. I don't actually know why he's not here.

"I would actually welcome some sort of investigation because it's unclear why he isn't here and we feel he should be.

"We wanted Greg and Greg was keen to come here but that's between the player and Inverness now and we move on.

"I spoke to John Hughes this morning and we have acted professionally, honestly and with integrity throughout this and he agrees with that. So there's absolutely no problem from John's point of view.

"We worked extremely hard to get the player. Two-hundred grand isn't easy for us to put together and I've had to generate a lot of that through bits and pieces.

"We felt the offer would trigger a clause in the player's contract that would allow him to be here. We understand Inverness's desire to keep him but we were as surprised as anyone that that wasn't met.

"The only thing we are maybe guilty of is not going in a wee bit earlier. But even on Friday morning when I found out that we could make the offer, it was my call not to disrupt Inverness' s preparations for their game on Saturday.

"When their game was called off, we put the offer in on Saturday morning. We always got a response back and it was clear Inverness were keen to keep their player and I understand that.

"But all the same we have worked extremely hard to bring the player here and it doesn't lie with us why he isn't here. You would need to ask them."

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