Aberdeen pay £70,000 to land Matty Kennedy early but miss out on Liam Boyce

St Johnstone's Matty Kennedy could seal his move to Aberdeen in time to face St Mirren. Picture: Roddy Scott / SNS

The clubs have agreed the fee for a player Derek McInnes originally signed on a pre-contract agreement earlier this month with a view to him joining in the summer. However, efforts to bring the move forward intensified after the Aberdeen manager watched his side produce two insipid performances.

They needed a late penalty to eliminate League One side Dumbarton from the Scottish Cup last weekend and failed to score at all in the midweek home defeat by Motherwell.

McInnes made it clear after slipping four points behind the Fir Park side in the race for third place that he aimed to add two attacking players to the squad before the trip to face St Mirren. Now he has finally secured Kennedy after several previous cash plus player deals were rejected by the Perth club.

However, the Dons have been outbid by Hearts for another target. The Tynecastle team failed in a last gasp attempt to sign Kennedy themselves but they did get Liam Boyce to agree a three-and-a-half year contract, even though Aberdeen matched Burton Albion’s asking price.

Meanwhile, a defiant McInnes has told disgruntled Aberdeen supporters that nobody is hurting more than he is after the loss to Motherwell. The Dons players and manager were jeered off after what was only their second home league defeat of the season, the only previous one being against Celtic. McInnes was also their target on social media afterwards and he admits the fans had every right to be frustrated after watching their side fail to create any clear-cut chances.

But he insists Aberdeen are still on track to qualify for Europefor a seventh successive season as well as mount a Scottish Cup challenge.

“Motherwell was deemed as a big game and when you don’t win, the fallout is understandable,” said McInnes. “I’ve been here a long time and when you don’t win your home games, that is normally the reaction.

“We’ve normally kept results like that to a minimum against teams we’re expected to win against. I thought we were the better team but when you don’t get the result, the reaction is what it normally is at clubs where there’s pressure. If you’re not getting booed off you’re not working at a club that expects to win its games at home. If you don’t win those games, people aren’t happy.”