Derek McInnes warns Aberdeen's fans about contracts
Derek McInnes has warned the Aberdeen support he may struggle to retain all of his out-of-contract players next summer.
Twelve members of the Dons squad have deals which expire at the end of the season, including skipper Ryan Jack and frontman Niall McGinn.
Defenders Ash Taylor and Andy Considine and midfielder Peter Pawlett are also in the final six months of their agreements.
But McInnes has confirmed he will only open talks once his team has negotiated their busy festive schedule.
All 12 will be able to negotiate moves elsewhere once the January transfer window opens, meaning it may be too late by the time McInnes gets round to offering fresh terms.
However, the Pittodrie boss is refusing to panic after admitting he may not be able to keep hold of some of his in-demand stars even if he wants to.
He said: We have this busy schedule and I just want to concentrate on the next few games but there will be discussions to be had and there are discussions we have had.
Hopefully we can get some sort of clarity and outcome in the month of January with some of the lads.
But it's not too unusual. I think it is unrealistic to think that we can secure everybody down on long-term deals.
We've tried and done that very well over the last few years. As the team gets more spotlight on them and the better the team does at times then individuals within that might want to exercise that right to look at their options.
I'm totally relaxed with that. At times you want everyone to sign, and sign long-term, but you have to be realistic about it. I'm not getting caught up in it too much.
I feel that we will get good work done over the next wee while and it's good to know if people are going to re-sign then we can still plan.
We want consistency within the squad and I think we've had that over the last wee while and I think it has served us well.''
The Reds have five games still to play before the Ladbrokes Premiership goes into a two-week hibernation after New Year.
The first of those takes place against Motherwell on Tuesday night and McInnes hopes his men can rediscover the kind of red-hot form which saw them thrash Kilmarnock 5-1 last Tuesday after they were held to a disappointing goalless draw by St Johnstone at the weekend.
It was a contrast but no two games are ever the same,'' he said.It was great against Kilmarnock. We place a lot of emphasis on the players behind the main striker chipping in with the goal and it was great for Niall to get a goal, Peter to score and Jonny Hayes to get a couple.
But our attack level wasn't anywhere near the same level on Saturday. Defensively we did well and deservedly got our clean sheet.
When you're the home team, however, you want to make sure get a bit more attacking threat than we did against St Johnstone. Hopefully that will be the case tomorrow night.
It doesn't need to be five goals but we do want a winning performance.''