DEREK McInnes insists Aberdeen are in no panic over Lewis Ferguson's contract situation.
The Dons midfielder has been a major hit at Pittodrie since moving north from Hamilton on a four-year deal in the summer.
The 19-year-old announced himself to the Reds faithful with a sensational Europa League strike at Burnley in August and followed that up with the Betfred Cup semi-final winner against his dad Derek and uncle Barry's old team Rangers.
READ MORE: Steve Clarke questions hysteria surrounding Power challenge on Ryan Jack
It was reported after those Hampden heroics that McInnes was preparing to offer Ferguson fresh terms just four months on from his Accies switch, but while talks have begun the Scotland Under-21 ace has yet to put pen to paper.
That has alarmed some members of the Red Army, who fear their young midfield battler could follow Scott McKenna onto the wish lists of cash-rich clubs down south.
McInnes, though, is remaining relaxed as he predicted Ferguson will become a firm fixture in the Granite City for years to come.
He said: "There's no real panic on that side of it [his contract]. We're pretty relaxed and confident we can get Lewis extended.
"He's clearly enjoying it here and his performances are an indication of that as well. He's someone who's going to have a good career ahead of him and is certainly going about it in the right way.
"Hopefully we've got Lewis for many years to come and that was the intention when we signed him and it's still the intention now."
McInnes may not feel quite so laid back about skipper Graeme Shinnie and wideman Gary Mackay-Steven's contract situations, with both players' deals set to expire this summer.
But the Pittodrie boss will not let the duo depart without a fight.
He said: "Both Graeme and Gary we've spoken to again briefly this week and hopefully we can get some news on that in the next week or so.
"I don't want it to dominate every press conference and it won't, but until both lads tell me they're not going to sign then we continue to push and try convince them that staying at Aberdeen is the best thing for them.
"There's nothing more to add to it at the minute, but hopefully we can get some good news in the coming weeks."
The Dons host Oran Kearney's new-look St Mirren on Saturday and McInnes expects to see more from the basement Buddies as they gel in 11 January recruits into their line-up.
READ MORE: Celtic defender Simunovic hopes plastic pitches' days are numbered
"Oran's getting a wee bit of a handle on the new signings and I feel as though, despite all that's happened, they are still in a three-team fight really to stay in the league," said McInnes on Saints, who sit three points adrift of Dundee at the bottom.
"Every game is very important for each team for their own cause. From our point of view, whether St Mirren are making those improvements or not it's important we continue to search for our own improvements and try get the three points that's available."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here