ABERDEEN pulled off a major transfer deadline day coup by signing Sone Aluko from Birmingham City for £70,000.
The England under-19 international was a big hit during a successful loan spell at Pittodrie last season when he scored four goals in 31 appearances.
In fact Jimmy Calderwood failed in attempt to bring him back on loan in the summer but now the wi
nger is back for good after agreeing a three year contract. The Aberdeen manager is convinced the fact his directors were willing to pay a fee to get the highly rated star shows they are serious about bringing the glory days back to Pittodrie. He said: "This is a great signing for the team and our supporters and sends out a clear message about this club's ambitions.
"Sone did wonderfully well last season and will bring an extra dimension to what is a very good team with his pace, creativity and his goalscoring.
"It wasn't possible to get another loan deal from Birmingham who fortunately made him available and the board, to their great credit, agreed to pay the fee. The directors saw the quality and the potential because he can only get better.
"I feel even more excited about the season with this deal and I'm sure there will be a lot more fans when he makes his debut in a testimonial match at Fraserburgh next week."
The Pittodrie club's director of football Willie Miller thanked his fellow Aberdeen legend Alex McLeish for doing the deal so swiftly. McLeish was pleased with the progress the winger made during his spell on loan at the Dons but realised Aluko was not going to cut it at Birmingham.
That became clear during pre-season training and when a loan deal to Blackpool was cut short because of injury the former Scotland manager alerted his old pal to the player's availability.
Miller said: "I would like to thank Alex McLeish for his assistance in this as it was instrumental in insuring that everything went smoothly."
Elsewhere, Motherwell have signed Slovakian defender Maros Klimpl on a five-month loan deal.
The 28-year-old joins from Danish side FC Midtjylland and will be manager Mark McGhee's final capture of the window. He has signed on loan until January subject to international clearance and registration formalities.
Hearts have loaned out defenders Craig Sives, 22, and John Armstrong, 21, to Queen of the South and Cowdenbeath.
The full article contains 411 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
