The Dons defender, reportedly pursued by Celtic and Aston Villa in the summer, could potentially be sold to help pay for their new stadium.
Aberdeen chairman Stewart Milne has admitted that the club are bracing themselves for interest in Scott McKenna this January.
The Dons chief has also spoken about a “very substantial offer” being turned down in August for the centre-back.
According to the Daily Record, Celtic had tabled a £3.5 million bid for McKenna before Aston Villa weighed in with a £7 million offer on deadline day.
Speaking to BBC Scotland, Milne said he discussed the offer with manager Derek McInnes, but with several factors considered, the decision was made not to accept it.
Having lost several key players from the previous season, the Aberdeen chairman said keeping McKenna on board to keep the team as strong as possible in beginning the campaign was seen as more important.
“We all believed it wasn’t just about the scale of the offer,” he told BBC Scotland. “It was a very substantial offer, and it did make us sit down with Derek and discuss the whole thing through. What was very important for us was we started the season off with as strong a team as we possibly could.”
With Aberdeen having seen their plans to build a new £50m stadium and training facilities at Kingsford approved this year and the construction phase getting underway in July – although a judicial review hearing into the plans is set to begin on 19 December – Milne hinted at the possibility of selling players to raise funds, although on-pitch success remains his top priority.
“We do expect clubs to be showing an interest [in McKenna] when the window opens, but we’ll just have to wait and see what comes in and we’ll deal with it at that point in time,” he added.
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