Darren Mowbray has returned as Aberdeen’s Head of Recruitment.

Darren first joined the club from Burnley FC in 2021 and brought with him extensive knowledge of the UK and European player markets, being directly responsible for securing talents likes of Bojan Miovski, Ylber Ramadani, Shayden Morris and others.

He left to join Southampton in the summer of 2023 and played a pivotal role in their promotion from the EFL Championship to the Premier League, but his spell on the south coast came to an end last year.

Reporting to the Sporting Director, Darren will lead the recruitment team into the summer 2026 window and beyond. He will replace the departing Nuno de Almeida who was recruited as part of former boss Jimmy Thelin’s staff.

Lutz Pfannenstiel said: “In recent months Darren has been acting for the club in an advisory capacity but we are really pleased he has now agreed to return to the Head of Recruitment role at AFC.

“His work last time unearthed several significant signings that went on to not only perform well for Aberdeen but made the club many millions of pounds in transfer fees.

“We have invested a great deal in our scouting infrastructure over the last 12 months, and Darren will be able to build on that and give us a strong platform for many years to come.

“With Darren joining us, I would also like to thank Nuno de Almeida for all his hard work and effort in his time with Aberdeen and we wish him well for his future career.”

Darren, who can also count the likes of Leeds United and Middlesbrough on his CV, will start work immediately.

He said: “I’ve been back doing some consultancy work and scouting for the club for many months now, but when the opportunity came up to get back in the saddle, I was delighted to accept.

“We already have a very clear picture of the work we need to do for this summer, and my team and I will work exceptionally hard to give the new Head Coach the best possible chance by recruiting the strongest, most suitable players we can find.”