Ambitious Dave Cormack has revealed Aberdeen's £15million wage bill is on the rise as they look to end Celtic and Rangers' Scottish football stranglehold.
It's been 36 years since a team outwith Glasgow were league champions but the Dons supremo is aiming high under Stephen Glass' leadership.
The American-based chairman was raised in the Granite City during their greatest ever period under Sir Alex Ferguson - an era that delivered incredible success including the Cup Winners' Cup in 1983.
Celtic and Rangers' wage bill last checked in excess of £60m and £40m respectively but the Dons aren't standing still despite the fallout for all clubs in the wake of the pandemic.
Scott Brown and Christian Ramirez have been the marquee arrivals this summer as Aberdeen sit 180 minutes away the group stage of the Europa Conference League.
Speaking to the Unmodern Man, he said: "Everybody knows the £60-80m a year that Celtic and Rangers are paying in wages and we’re certainly the third highest (in the league).
"As we mentioned before we started recording, our wage bill this season with the squad we’ve got is going to be higher than last season."
Cormack has always made it clear that he is willing to think outside the box and the 61-year-old has his finger on the pulse when it comes to trends across Europe.
And he has belief Aberdeen can thrive in a post-Brexit world but it might be a different case for clubs in English football's lower tiers.
He added: "The reality is, with the offers that the likes of Aberdeen and Hibs have had for players, that hasn’t borne fruit. What I will tell you is that Brexit has hammered English clubs. There are Championship clubs and League One clubs in England with real financial problems right now with financial fair play. On one hand, being restricted more to UK players you’d think would help us. On the other hand, you have financial fair play.
"Brexit hurts us a little bit as well. We were just expanding our scouting network into the Slovak countries and now we have to justify players coming in. We had to justify Christian (Ramirez) coming in. But that’s another factor for us now looking at the European market. Can we bring players in that aren’t necessarily internationals playing for Croatia, Bosnia and places like that?
"One thing I will mention is that you’ve got the Scandinavian countries who are developing more technical players. There’s a guy called Tom Vernon who set up the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana.
"They’re just setting up now in Egypt as well. They bought FC Nordsjælland in the Danish Super League in 2015. In the last two seasons, they have sold three young players, one to Sampdoria, one to Ajak and one to Cincinnati in the States for a combined €21m. And they just sold a player they took out of their Ghanaian Academy, Sulemana, to Rennes for €20m."
