Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin: Bojan Miovski is still focused amid Girona speculation

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin insists Bojan Miovski remains focused on the Dons despite increased speculation over his future.

The Dons are reported to be in talks with Spanish side Girona, who have apparently earmarked North Macedonia forward Miovski for their upcoming Champions League campaign.

However, Thelin is still involving Miovski in preparations for Sunday’s William Hill Premiership encounter with St Mirren.

Thelin told Aberdeen’s website: “With Bojan it has been a bit more intense this week with the speculation but he is an Aberdeen player and he is still training with us. We went through the set plays and he was there.

“We focus day by day and he is an Aberdeen player and he is focusing on that part which is important also for us.”

Meanwhile, Thelin has backed Ante Palaversa to bring a new dimension to his midfield after signing the Croatian midfielder on a one-year contract earlier this week.

The 24-year-old signed from Troyes after the Dons acted to cover injured midfield players Leighton Clarkson and Dante Polvara.

Palaversa made a big-money move from Hajduk Split to Manchester City in January 2019 and had a series of loan spells before moving to France, where he had an injury-hit spell with a club owned by the City Football Group, just like Girona and the English champions.

Thelin said: “Ante Palaversa has good spirit and he now has a way to get his career back on track, he has had some setbacks in recent years.

“The hunger is there, for me it is really important when you see in his eyes how much he wants to play for Aberdeen and also how hard he wants to work to achieve something, that’s the first part.

“His profile is more like box to box and linking the play. He is a different type of player to Graeme (Shinnie) and Sivert (Nilsen). It’s good to have other tools to use inside our game.

“If you ask him he will say he is ready to play on Sunday but I think it’s a little bit too early. We just need to be careful. I think he will be ready quite soon but maybe not for the weekend.”