news-engine

Connor Ronan reveals reason Aberdeen transfer didn't happen first time around after Jim Goodwin talks Ronan travelled to Cormack Park after working under Goodwin at St Mirren but Wolves carrot meant he stayed put at Molineux Connor Ronan turned Aberdeen down the first time because he was still chasing his Premier League dream. Jim Goodwin initially took the midfielder to St Mirren from Wolves. The manager then moved to Pittodrie and in the summer of 2023 made a failed bid to team up with him again at Aberdeen. Stephen Robinson, who succeed Goodwin at St Mirren, eventually made him a Don this summer - some three years later. Ronan confirmed: “I think the big thing then, from what I could remember, is Wolves were going through a period where they had a bit of uncertainty in the squad and they were still in the Premier League. “I was kind of being dangled that carrot a little bit of maybe being around it again in the Premier League and I was kind of holding on to that. “That opportunity kind of presented itself when I was in and around it in pre-season. “I saw the opportunity to be a part of the squad, and it probably didn't work out the way I would have wanted in terms of the minutes I got from the summer until January, but I got a chance to be around the Premier League squad for six months and train every day. “I got a couple of minutes on the pitch, so not all regret there, but definitely something that I look back on and think how would it have looked if I would have gone down a different route.” Ronan had six loans in his time at Wolves but was never really able to fully open the first-team door there. He eventually moved to Colorado Rapids back in 2023 and spent three seasons in Major League Soccer before returning to the Scottish Premiership. The 28-year-old even travelled up to Cormack Park for talks with Goodwin. He recalled: “Jim brought me up to St Mirren, and then obviously he left to come up here. “I had Stephen for, I can't remember how many games, but maybe five or six games and then obviously returned back to Wolves, and that's when I had the conversations with Jim about potentially coming back up here. “We obviously had a few conversations in that window about coming up here and different ways of doing it, whether it was alone again or permanently, and then once that kind of died off.” There was very little chance of Ronan turning Aberdeen down for a second time. The midfielder made the move from the States and has made an instant impact, bringing some much-needed creativity to the Dons. Robinson recently said his footballing intelligence is three or four steps ahead of others at times. Ronan admitted: “I don't know, it's weird. “Like I said before, it always felt like a chance to come back up again, to come over here, and obviously it didn't happen that time. “There was various conversations while I was over there, nothing serious, but a little bit of interest here and there, so again, it was always in the back of my mind that I'd maybe come back to the league and specifically Aberdeen. “My contract was coming to an end in the US, and this came up again, but a lot more serious than maybe previous conversations and we just kind of jumped at it. “Like I said before, it seemed like just the right fit all round, the right time for me and my family to get back over here, and football-wise, the right time for me to come back over as well." Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources . Click HERE. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.