Graeme Shinnie will leave Aberdeen next month when his contract expires, ending a second spell at Pittodrie that included the club’s first Scottish Cup triumph in 35 years. The 34-year-old captain has chosen to move on so he can keep playing regularly, despite Aberdeen offering him a two-year contract extension that also included a pathway into coaching.
Shinnie leaves as one of Aberdeen’s most durable and influential modern players. He made 344 appearances across two spells with the club, putting him 20th on Aberdeen’s all-time appearance list and 12th-most in the club’s history for European games with 32 appearances. He also started half of Aberdeen’s league games last season, when the club finished in ninth place.
Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson called Shinnie an outstanding leader and said his dedication, work rate and influence in the dressing room had been invaluable. Robinson said Shinnie had captained the club with distinction and that the club understood his desire to continue playing regularly, something he could not guarantee going into next season.
Shinnie first joined Aberdeen in 2015 after leaving Inverness Caledonian Thistle, then departed for Derby County in 2019 before returning to Pittodrie in 2023. His return came at a moment of pressure for Aberdeen, and he went on to captain them to the 2025 Scottish Cup final at Hampden, where they beat Celtic to lift the trophy. He became the first Aberdeen captain in 35 years to win the Scottish Cup.
The move now looks set to send him back to Inverness Caledonian Thistle after their promotion to the Championship. Aberdeen had hoped the coaching route would tempt him to stay, but Shinnie has opted for the chance to keep playing at this stage of his career. That leaves Aberdeen with the loss of a captain, a homecoming figure and a player who helped deliver one of the club’s most meaningful days of recent years.
Robinson said it goes without saying that Shinnie leaves with the club’s sincerest thanks, admiration and very best wishes for the future. Aberdeen will now move on without a player who gave them 344 games, a trophy as captain and a standard of consistency that made him central to both spells at the club.
