Derek McInnes spoke to afc.co.uk ahead of their second training session on day 1 of the winter training camp in Dubai
“We arrived late last night and trained this morning, got the journey out of our legs and the players were eager to get going on the training pitch with the facilities which are fantastic. We have now got a second session in the evening, so we are here to get the players moving again and get them working and get ourselves ready for the Stranraer game.
“It’s two free weekends that we will have had since the Hearts game before Stranraer and that’s why I think it’s important to get some sort of game in, three weekends would have been too long without a game, so we have the friendly on Sunday.
“It’s good that we have a chance to train out here, working towards Sunday’s game. It’s important that we get the benefit from this and get some good training days in. The players are here to work hard, they have had a wee bit of a break with their families, now we are working in a nice environment to be ready.
“We have had a fit squad now for the past four to six weeks and I think that shows the strength of the squad. That goes down to a lot of work. The players taking the responsibility to do things right, the work that Graeme Kirk does with them and the work of the physios to try and restrict the injuries that we do get, hopefully that continues.
“We are never too surprised but the level of some of the speculation has been absurd really. When there is no football it gives people an opportunity to write whatever. We have been heavily linked with a lot of players which we aren’t and players have been linked a lot of other clubs which they aren’t. We can’t keep denying everything so it is better just to say very little and react to what is real.
“If anybody is interested in our players, they make the call and we react to that and likewise if we are interested in certain players coming here it soon becomes clear anyway.
“When the winter break first got confirmed I spoke to Niall. Niall is such a willing boy and he is honest with his work, he has been totally dedicated to Aberdeen and Northern Ireland for the last few years and there is a consequence of that where this is too much demand on him. I felt, and we had to persuade Niall, to take the second week off because even when we give him days off he will still come in and long term that isn’t always the best for him.
“He will report back to Aberdeen on Monday, we fly back on the Monday night and we wanted him to just take time to detrain, get a bit of time for himself and switch off for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we get the benefit from that. I actually think it will be fantastic for us in the second half of the season, a fresher re-energised , rested Niall McGinn with loads to play for in the second half of the season will be massive for us.”
“He will report back to Aberdeen on Monday, we fly back on the Monday night and we wanted him to just take time to detrain, get a bit of time for himself and switch off for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we get the benefit from that. I actually think it will be fantastic for us in the second half of the season, a fresher re-energised , rested Niall McGinn with loads to play for in the second half of the season will be massive for us.”
