Glass to add new faces following Aberdeen's Euro exit

Stephen Glass has said that he is aiming to add to his squad for the challenges ahead, despite the team’s interest in European football being ended by Qarabag.

The Azerbaijani side won 3-1 at Pittodrie to settle the Europa League play-off, leaving the Dons to focus on domestic competition for the remainder of the season.

Glass accepted his team had been second best, saying there would be lessons to learn from the defeat.

“The better team pretty clearly won,” he said. “We started OK but they scored a goal out of nothing.

“Their quality players produced which is always the danger when you play a side of that level. We knew they would enjoy the pitch here – top players do – and they have a team littered with top players.

“It’s no embarrassment to say ‘they’re a level above us’. The biggest lesson is how much we look after the ball. We showed we’re capable of that in the second half when the game was gone but I think we looked more dangerous and gave their top players less opportunity to hurt us.”

Glass now plans to finalise his squad for the season ahead, with a couple more new faces being brought in following the arrival of Marley Watkins, and some likely to press for a move away in the search for regular game time.

Aberdeen are understood to be making a move for Newcastle’s Matty Longstaff on loan, and Glass confirmed he was active in the market.

“We are looking to add,” he said. “I think by the end of the week we should be able to finalise a couple of bits and pieces.

“We’re looking at top players to come and play for the club.

“At the moment [I’m not planning for departures] but I’m sure the fact that we’re in less competitions than we hoped, that might be the case.

“Our players are in demand, and there might be some players who want to play but feel their game time might be limited. It might suit them to be on loan.

“So there’s a few different things between now and Tuesday midnight. I’m sure we’ll be pretty busy as we have been all month.”