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Richard Gordon: Kusini Yengi has the potential to be a talisman for Aberdeen but Dons need more attacking options
It is still over a month until the Dons kick-off their 2025-26 campaign, but the next few weeks are going to be vitally important, and give us a few clues as to what lies ahead.
The club announced a list of pre-season fixtures, some of which will feature a Dons XI, others more likely to offer a better indication of Jimmy Thelin's preferred line-up.
The first of those will be at Balmoral Stadium on July 12 against Cove Rangers, and it will be interesting to see if more new faces have arrived by then.
So far, Jimmy has brought in left-back Emmanuel Gyamfi and three Aussies, goalkeeper Nick Suman, winger Nicolas Milanovic and striker Kusini Yengi. Of that quartet, it is Yengi who will be of most interest.
Last season, Kevin Nisbet was the only one who looked capable of scoring on a regular basis, and even then, it took him until the turn of the year before he really hit form. Kevin finished on 14 goals, the only player to make it into double figures.
Given what we have seen so far of the other strikers at Thelin's disposal, there has been nothing to suggest any will fill the void. That means the spotlight will fall on the former Portsmouth hitman.
He was by no means prolific at Fratton Park, and did not net a single goal for the club last season, but his previous campaign was more impressive, and he has a highly credible record at international level, notching six for Australia in his eleven appearances to date.
He clearly has something; it will be up to Jimmy and his coaching staff to coax that out of the striker.
But he will need back-up, and I have to imagine it is an area the club is still looking to strengthen significantly.
As well as doing so, they have to be looking at moving a few players on, and there are some in the squad who clearly look surplus to requirements.
With the additional demands of a European campaign ahead, in whichever of the leagues the Dons find themselves, they are going to require not only a bigger pool, but one which offers strength in depth when it comes to quality.
That will hopefully mean more game time for the club's most promising youngsters. Jack Milne proved in the Scottish Cup final he has the required attributes, Fletcher Boyd has obvious potential, and Alfie Bavidge caught the eye while out on loan at Caley Thistle, earning a place in the PFA Scotland League One team of the year.
A trio of players – Adam Emslie, Findlay Marshall and Dylan Lobban – played more than 100 between them for Cove last time round, and I saw them develop significantly over the course of the campaign.
Not all will get a chance, but it would be good to see at least some of them feature more regularly during 2025-26, giving the squad more of a local identity.
The next month is likely to be a busy one on the training ground, and on and off the pitch, and by the end of it I would hope the team is ready for what seems certain to be a challenging and demanding season.
The excitement for the new campaign ramped-up last Friday with the announcement of the Premiership fixture list.
Disappointingly, the first weekend will see one solitary Saturday 3pm kick-off – Kilmarnock v Livingston – with a trio of games on the Sunday.
Because of the demands of the television companies, and Thursday night European games, Sundays often now feature more of the bigger games, and that will again be the case.
It will certainly be something the Dons are going to have to adapt to if they are to have a successful season.
Getting off the blocks positively should help – although that did not exactly work out last time – but Aberdeen have been handed a tough start with Celtic at home on day two, either side of trips to Tynecastle and Tannadice.
It was no surprise that Sky chose the Hearts game for the Monday evening, and the meeting with Derek McInnes will be some appetiser for the top-flight campaign.
