The incredible Aberdeen loan player stat that…

The incredible Aberdeen loan player stat that highlights need for mammoth Pittodrie transfer rebuild

Aberdeen have leaned more heavily on loan players than almost any top flight club in Europe this season, a new report has revealed.

The Pittodrie side are in a season of transition with Barry Robson picking up the pieces left by Jim Goodwin, but they remain in with a chance of Europe having beaten Hearts to go just four points behind the third-placed side at the weekend. January loan signings Graeme Shinnie and Mattie Pollock, the latter of whom scored in the 3-0 rout over the Jambos, have been central to the recovery that has seen them win three games in a row for the first time since January 2022.

It was a busy window that also saw Jay Gorter arrive on loan from Ajax while Angus MacDonald was signed on a free transfer. Pollock, Shinnie and Gorter though mean they now have eight players on loan - 32 per cent of their active squad as of March 2023, according to the CIES Football Observatory.

In their monthly report, they note that puts Aberdeen right up there as the most reliant on loan players of any top flight club in Europe. Only Empoli (40%), Monza (36.7%), Nizhny Novogorod (34.6%) and Sampdoria (34.5%) have higher figures in that regard.

La Liga's Girona (32%) have used the same amount while the Bundesliga's Schalke (31.3%) are just behind. And while Aberdeen fans are just happy that results are picking up on the pitch for now, it highlights the job facing the new manager come the summer - whether that's tasked to Barry Robson or a new boss.

Incidentally, the same report puts the Scottish Championship up there as one of the leagues most reliant on loanees in Europe. 16.9 per cent of players in Scotland's second tier are on loan which puts it firmly in the top ten in that regard, but it's not an uncommon thing in the UK with England's Leagues One and Two both using marginally higher percentages. The top two spots are occupied by Serie B (22.8%) and A (19%) in Italy with Spain's Segunda Division and Turkey's Super Lig all ahead of the SPFL Championship, which sits seventh.