Why Aberdeen cannot trigger Dennis Geiger option to buy, by boss Stephen Robinson

Boss Stephen Robinson has confirmed Aberdeen cannot afford to trigger the option to buy on Hoffenheim midfielder Dennis Geiger.

Robinson says the German midfielder is ideal for the way he wants Aberdeen to press next season – but admits Geiger is “100 percent out of our league to buy”.

However, the Reds boss has refused to rule out exploring another loan deal for the 27-year-old although he admits “we don’t know at this stage” if that would be a possibility.

Geiger was secured on loan from the German Bundesliga club in January until the end of the season, with the Reds holding the option to make the move permanent.

However the 27-year-old is on a lucrative contract at Hoffenheim that still has a year remaining.

Any move to sign him permanently is beyond Aberdeen’s financial reach.

Geiger in shop widow at Aberdeen

And even another loan would mean Hoffenheim taking another financial hit.

Geiger had not played for his parent club this season and moved to Pittodrie to get regular game time.

Prior to his Pittodrie arrival the midfielder’s previous game was in a 4-0 Bundesliga defeat to champions Bayern Munich on May 17.

Geiger was frozen out of the Hoffenheim side after publicly criticising the club’s recruitment strategy last season.

The midfielder was a regular starter for the Dons making 13 appearances and scoring once, against Rangers at Ibrox.

The 27-year-old, once valued at £10million and linked with Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, has racked up more than 100 starts in the German top flight.

Securing a loan move to Aberdeen was an opportunity for Geiger to put himself in the shop window.

With regular game time in Scotland and his pedigree Geiger will inevitably have options this summer in Germany and beyond.

Aberdeen sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel pushed hard for three months to get a loan deal for Geiger over the line in January.

Robinson: ‘Geiger would certainly be 100 percent out of our league to buy’

Landing Geiger on loan was a coup and based on Pfannenstiel’s relationship with Hoffenheim and the midfielder’s agent.

Pfannenstiel spent nine years at Hoffenheim from 2011 to 2019 as head of international relations and scouting.

Geiger has spent his entire career at Hoffenheim and was emerging through the youth system when Pfannenstiel was at the club.

Robinson said: “Geiger would certainly be 100 percent out of our league to buy.

“Whether we are able to loan him again I don’t know at this stage.

“But he is a very good footballer who presses the way I like to press.

“He is the only one I don’t have to coach how to press because he has done that at Hoffenheim from a very young age.

“But we wouldn’t be able to afford Dennis.”

Meanwhile Robinson says skipper Graeme Shinnie has a “decision to make” as he will have other options alongside a new Dons contract offer.

Shinnie ‘has a decision to make’

Scottish Cup winning captain Shinnie’s Aberdeen deal expires at the end of the month.

Aberdeen have offered Shinnie a two-year contract but with reduced terms that would see the skipper combine playing and coaching duties.

The 34-year-old is reportedly in “advanced talks” with his former club Inverness Caley Thistle who he captained to Scottish Cup glory in 2015.

Shinnie has started only two of the eight games Robinson has managed since being appointed boss in March.

The captain was introduced as a substitute in the second half of the 3-2 loss at Dundee on Sunday in the final game of the season.

Whether that will be Shinnie’s last game for the club remains up in the air.

Robinson said: “We’ve offered Graeme a contract.

“Graeme’s got a decision to make because he wants to keep playing football as long as he can, as many minutes as he can.

“He will have other options, of course.

“We’ve made it very clear to Graeme we want to stay.

“We’ll wait and see the news on that.”

[Source: Press and Journal]