What Liam Scales said about Aberdeen and Celtic future, pre-season plans and his 'love' playing for the Dons

As things stand, Liam Scales will report to Celtic for pre-season after taking a much-needed holiday following an Aberdeen season which has been somewhat of a rollercoaster.

Unlike his team-mates, the Irishman has just two games of the campaign remaining. He will sit out the trip to his parent club on the final day of the season. By then, he will hope to have helped the Dons secure third spot ahead of the challenge from Hearts and Hibs, still hoping to overturn a five and six point deficit respectively. That's as far as the defender is allowing his mind to wander.

Not long after joining Aberdeen on a season-long loan, then Dons boss Jim Goodwin spoke enthusiastically about making the deal permanent. Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou revealed recently a decision will be made on the player’s future in the summer. As for Scales, he is laid back about the situation.

“I will report back to Celtic in the summer for pre-season, that is what I am assuming will happen,” he said. “I will need to go back there and discuss what plans they have for me. I am looking forward to taking a break in the summer and I don’t think I’ll be worrying too much about what the future holds when I’m off.

“I have really enjoyed it up here, I love playing here – it has been brilliant for me. But I can’t decide now what’s going to happen because I don’t know what’s going on between the clubs. I don’t know what Celtic have planned for me so there’s no point jumping ahead. All I can do is finish the season strongly then take it from there.

“There hasn’t been much feedback from Celtic, all I have heard really is that they’re happy I’m playing games and getting experience. They just let me get on with it, which is the way I wanted it. I wanted to just come here, focus solely on playing for Aberdeen and not be focused on Celtic."

‘We are a different team now’

This weekend sees a return to Edinburgh, a city which has not been kind to club or player this season. Scales has been on the losing end three times this campaign, conceding 14 goals in the process and has been sent off twice. Yet, this is a Dons team, under Barry Robson, who are in a much more stable and confident position. For the 24-year-old, he has found comfort in a back three alongside Angus MacDonald and Mattie Pollock, allowing him “to defend aggressively”, while revealing it would have been “hard to imagine what has been a 15 point swing”, from trailing Hearts by ten to now leading by five.

Liam Scales, on loan from Celtic, will have discussions over his future during the summer. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

"It is completely different," Scales said of then and now. “We are a different team now and a lot of things have changed. We proved that point when we beat them [Hearts[ up at Pittodrie a couple of months ago. “My performances dipped with the squad’s. It is good to be back keeping clean sheets as I always backed myself and my ability if I go through tough times. It is good to be back defending well and keeping clean sheets. When you go through difficult spells you just have to learn from it and take as many positives as you can.”