Search

20 Jan 2026

Derek McInnes insists there is no Kilmarnock deal for Gary Mackay-Steven

Derek McInnes insists there is no Kilmarnock deal for Gary Mackay-Steven

Derek McInnes waxed lyrical about free agent Gary Mackay-Steven but insists training facilities is still all he is being offered at Kilmarnock at the moment.

The 33-year-old winger left Hearts in the summer and is continuing his return to full fitness at Rugby Park following a foot injury.

McInnes was boss of Mackay-Steven at Aberdeen and is still a fan, but does not think “there will be anything imminent” in terms of a potential deal.

“I am delighted to have him,” said the Killie manager.

“Obviously I worked with him before and he did well for me at Aberdeen, and he has shown some lovely touches and has fitted in well with the lads.

“It is good to have him here and if I can help play a part in getting him up to speed then great.

“We are quite open to see where it maybe leads us, but at the minute there is nothing more to report on.

“He got his move to Celtic on the back of some good performances for Dundee United and we managed to buy him at Aberdeen for £150,000 I think it was, and he got involved in the fringes of the international squad.

“We were really keen to keep him at the time, but he got an opportunity to go to the MLS with New York and the whole lifestyle and experience thing won the race.

“He had decent experience out there and came back to Hearts.

“He is a player who can make the difference in certain games and he has always shown that quality.

“He is also a very good finisher and I thought he was terrific for me at Aberdeen, I really enjoyed working with him and he is a good boy.

“So he is someone we have kept in touch with and are giving him a helping hand at this moment in time, but you never know where it can lead.

“I haven’t even had a conversation with the board or anything like that. They know he is training but if it progresses, we will all know soon enough.”

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.