Jimmy Thelin coy on Aberdeen transfer links as he issues Polvara and Clarkson injury updates

Jimmy Thelin refused to be drawn on Aberdeen’s interest in Scotland striker Kevin Nisbet and Australian winger Marcus Younis.

Following the club record sale of Bojan Miovski to Girona last week, the Dons have been heavily linked with a move for out-of-favour Millwall forward Nisbet.

It has also been reported that the Pittodrie club are keen on 19-year-old Western Sydney Wanderers attacker Younis.

READ MORE: Jimmy Thelin's brutal three-word Duk update as Aberdeen boss makes his stance clear

READ MORE: Aberdeen eye Australian talent Marcus Younis from Western Sydney Wanderers for squad boost

However, Thelin was in no mood to shed any light on the situation regarding either player at his pre-match media briefing on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s Premiership clash with Kilmarnock.

“You’re going to get the same answer today, I don’t want to speak about other team’s players and other speculation,” said the Dons boss. “I think you are better than me to speculate, I will leave it to you.”

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Thelin was similarly evasive when asked for an update on Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes, who has not played at all this term after being the subject of an internal disciplinary issue since failing to return on time for pre-season.

The manager declined to discuss the forward’s predicament other than to confirm that “he is not here”, with no further questions allowed on the matter.

Meanwhile there was some good team news, as the Swede issued an injury update on absent stars Dante Polvara and Leighton Clarkson.

He said: "For team news, Dante is still some way to go until he is ready. Leighton is maybe more on the pitch after the national team break and let’s see from there."

Thelin was tight-lipped on his plans for the remaining week of the transfer window, although he is keen to give some of the Dons’ fringe players, such as Jack Milne and Pape Habib Gueye, the opportunity to become more prominent.

“We have some ideas and visions for the future but we also try to think about… you see Jack Milne doing really well in the last game and Pape Habib has also done some good things on the pitch,” said the Swede.

“I look at the training sessions and everyone is competing so my focus is with them right now.

“We also have to respect the window, in both directions, and be prepared. Someone could come for our players so you always have to be prepared, thinking about the short term and the long term.”

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On Kilmarnock, Thelin shared sympathy for the Ayrshire club, who come to the Granite City just days after the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off against Copenhagen, which they lost 2-0.

He added: "I never think like that (playing Kilmarnock between two European matches) because it’s two different competitions.

"They have a good experienced manager in Derek and they have a strong squad and I am sure they are going to be really prepared for the game against us at Pittodrie.

"I don’t think like advantage or these kind of things. I always try to prepare, focus on what we can do and do the best we can do there."

Quizzed about reports on Kilmarnock looking to explore the possibility of the game being postponed due to their European commitments, he said: "For me that’s a bigger question, not one so close before a game but it’s a bigger question in that case for the league and how we want to prepare ourselves for the European games.

"I haven’t thought about this specific situation at all. I am new in this league. I don’t know exactly how it impacts on the games.

"I think there are better people than me to talk about that question. After the season maybe and before next season maybe.

"I only have my experience from Sweden when we were in Europe and there we have three games a week and we don’t talk about it so much during the season.

"We just play the games and keep moving. It’s always good for Scottish football if we’re strong in Europe but for me right now I don’t think about it at all."