RONNIE MACDONALD is delighted to see ex-Hamilton midfielder Lewis Ferguson set to move to Italy.
But he thinks Rangers are missing a trick by letting the Scots youngster leave the Premiership.
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Ferguson is wanted by Serie A new boys Lecce in a £2m deal.
MacDonald owned Accies when Ferguson moved to Aberdeen in 2018 – claiming at the time the teenager was a ‘once in ten’ player.
Accies were furious with Aberdeen’s initial offer of £100,000 for the player – £20,000 for each year of Ferguson’s youth development at Accies – after signing a pre-contract with Dons four years ago.
And they were a little happier when a court set the price
Aberdeen would pay just over double that amount three months later.
MacDonald now believes the player’s value has proven closer to the £1.2m Hamilton wanted for him.
He said: “The minute Lewis went to Aberdeen he walked straight into their first team and scored with an aerial kick against Burnley in the Europa League.
“It made a mockery of the assessment they originally gave him.
“In hindsight, we made a mistake moving him to Aberdeen because they whipped him to death.
“He was their enforcer from midfield when he just turned 19. If there was a hole in their team, it was he they would seek to fill.
“But he’s a great lad with a great attitude and he would have done it without questioning it. As a person and a player, Lewis is a diamond.
“He’s a captain and when I look at him he looks like a Rangers player and kind of a captain to me.
“Given his family background, I don’t understand why they weren’t interested in him.
“But if he goes to Italy, good luck to him.
“He had four seasons at Aberdeen and he obviously sees this as the next step for him.
“I think people forget how young he is and how much experience he already has.
“He’s 22 and he’s played nearly 200 games for us and Aberdeen.
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“You can say at Hamilton we didn’t protect against him, but Greg Docherty was a mainstay in the team and then we suddenly lost him to Rangers and had to throw Lewis away.”
Ferguson has been the Dons’ top scorer in each of the past two seasons, attracting interest from Watford and Millwall in the south as well as Italian clubs.
He earned a reputation as a tough midfielder, but MacDonald remembers the out-of-shape child Accies took on after being released by Rangers aged 14.
He said: “He was a little big and he wasn’t as big as he had become.
“He was a popular lad and we brought him into our system and got him used to playing.
“We were developing him, but we had to put him in the first team a bit earlier than expected after Greg left.
“But he adapted very quickly and that sparked interest from Aberdeen.
“I sometimes think he doesn’t get the credit he deserves as a player. He’s seen as a big, athletic lad who likes tackling, but he can also play.
“Whether they wanted him to be an attacking midfielder or a defensive midfielder, he could do the job.”
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