Nottingham Forest have completed the signing of Scott McKenna as Aberdeen claimed their biggest ever transfer fee.
The Scotland international has moved south of the border in a 4-year deal worth an initial £3million bolstered by achievable add-ons set to bump the fee up for the Dons.
The Pittodrie side have also included a 20 per cent sell on clause which will see them benefit from any future sale of the centre back.
McKenna has been looking to make the move down south for over a year and handed in a transfer request to Aberdeen last season but that was knocked back.
That came after bids from Aston Villa – worth £7m – Celtic and Stoke had been rejected for him in recent seasons.
And now he will have his chance in the English Championship as he joins Forest as they look to gain promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.
He'll be partnered at the heart of the Forest defence by former Rangers loanee Joe Worrall under Sabri Labouchi.
But Derek McInnes won't be in line for a transfer windfall with the Dons boss admitting the signings of Ross McCrorie and Tommie Hoban were made under the assumption that McKenna would be sold
He said: “We made succession planning with Ross and Hoban coming in short-term. We weren’t encouraging bids but we expected bids as soon as the Championship started.
“The way he has been and his form you’d need to be living on Mars to not see how he’s been playing. His stats are right up there in our league. We were allowed to bring in Tommie and Ross to deal with a McKenna leaving.”
McKenna’s fee eclipses the previous transfer record set by Eoin Jess’ £2m switch to Coventry City in 1996.
