Florian Kamberi will miss out on a return to Hibernian in Aberdeen colours after Derek McInnes confirmed the forward remains stranded in Switzerland due to work permit issues.
The 25-year-old sealed a shock deadline day loan move to Pittodrie from St Gallen in his homeland a year after attracting the ire of the Easter Road faithful by joining Rangers on a similar deal.
Kamberi, who scored 30 times in 84 games for the Leith outfit, departed in the summer after being left out of Jack Ross’ plans for the season.
However, he failed to find the net in nine appearances both domestically in the Super League and in St Gallen’s early exit from the Europa League at the hands of AEK Athens.
The Swiss-born Albanian forward’s progress was also curtailed when he tested positive for coronavirus in November.
The Dons completed a treble swoop for strikers Kamberi, St Johnstone’s Callum Hendry and Scotland under-21 international Fraser Hornby on Monday after losing Sam Cosgrove to Birmingham City in a £2 million deal.
But McInnes confirmed the former Hibee will have no involvement on Saturday, telling his pre-match press conference: “He can’t travel until he has his actual work permit, so he can’t leave the country.
“The process is well on its way, but unfortunately for us it won’t be in time for tomorrow.
“At the very latest, he’ll be in the country on February 10."
Kamberi initially joined Hibs on loan from Grasshoppers Zurich in January 2018, netting nine times in 14 games before making the move permanent that summer.
He formed a promising strike partnership with Australian forward Jamie MacLaren and went on to score a further 21 goals over the next two years.
However, things soured when Kamberi made a surprise move to Ibrox as part of a loan swap involving Greg Docherty.
