Nicky Devlin sat down in front of the RedTV cameras on Monday evening in The Netherlands to catch up on all things pre-season camp, fitness standards, goals for 26-27, and more.

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“This is obviously the fourth pre-season at Aberdeen. Quite a few before that as well. But no, these are so important in terms of the season going forward. Obviously, when you have a lot of new players, or there’s new players coming into the squad, these trips are just vital.

“It’s the best way to get to know people, to understand what they are like off the pitch as well as on the pitch.

“We’ve brought in a few characters that are big personalities. They’re quite outspoken and get on with the group straight away. Obviously, there are other people that are different kinds of characters, and this week helps bring them out. But yeah, the new boys have come in and have all settled in really well.

“On the field is just as important because they’re in so early. The new boys will have played probably five games together before our first competitive game, which is important because by the time the competitive games start, we have to be ready to go. We have to win games straight from the start of the season.

“The testing we do, the endurance testing that we do on the first day back, that was by far the best I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club. That’s everybody included, new players, players that were here before, the young boys that have stepped up. Everyone was in really good condition.

“I think that’s made it easier now for the manager to not bypass it, but he doesn’t have to focus so much on, 'Let’s get the boys fit.' There is much more detail now and you’ve seen that this afternoon with training. It’s been like that almost since day one.