RANGERS and Celtic weren’t the only Scottish sides faced with hard decisions to make when it comes to whittling down their European squads after a busy summer deadline.
In fact, Aberdeen have arguably faced the biggest crunch of all – with Jimmy Thelin’s Dons forced to leave out no fewer than FIVE key men, including a number of summer signings who they paid hard cash for.
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And included in that group are Tottenham Hotspur loan star Alfie Dorrington and recent signing from Celtic, Mitchel Frame.
Also on the outside looking in when the glamour games tick round are highly-rated Icelandic summer signing Kjartan Mar Kjartansson, Nigerian frontman Peter Ambrose and Swedish Under-21 winger Kenan Bilalovic, who was snapped up for £500,000 from IFK Varnamo.
The Dons have an arduous series of games ahead, including clashes with Shakhtar Donetsk, Sparta Prague, AEK Athens and Strasbourg.
Highly-rated Spurs centre back Dorringon is perhaps the biggest surprise on the list, after the 20-year-old started the Scottish Cup final and was persuaded to return to the Dons for a second season.
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He’s played for his country right up to England Under-19 level – and started the 2-2 draw for the Dons in Aberdeen against FCSB.
Frame’s omission too comes as something of a surprise, with the ex-Celtic star’s playing for the Hoops previously in the Champions League.
His arrival, though, is too recent for him to be included on the B list with the club’s other young stars such as Dylan Lobban and Ryan Duncan.
The Dons can include new signings Stuart Armstrong, Kevin Nisbet and Jesper Karlsson in their group but something has to give with clubs having to name four association trained players and four club trained players in their A list.
They dropped into the Conference League when they crashed out 5-2 on aggregate to Romanian outfit FCSB, with full back Alexander Jensen having to serve a suspension after his dismissal in the away leg in Bucharest.
They’ve invested heavily in foreign stars since the arrival of Jimmy Thelin 12 months ago.
Results domestically haven’t gone to plan so far this season, with the Dons yet to get a single Premiership point on the board.
Full Aberdeen Conference League List A squad
Goalkeepers: Dimitar Mitov, Nick Suman
Defenders: Nicky Devlin, Jack Milne, Alexander Jensen, Kristers Tobers, Emmanuel Gyamfi, Mats Knoester, Gavin Molloy
Midfielders: Graeme Shinnie, Stuart Armstrong, Leighton Clarkson, Sivert Heltne Nilsen, Ante Palaversa, Dante Polvara, Adil Aouchiche
Attackers: Kevin Nisbet, Jesper Karlsson, Kusini Yengi, Marko Lazetic, Topi Keskinen, Nicolas Milanovic.
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