Aberdeen coach’s shortlist is “within a few days”, says sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel.

While Pfannenstiel did not name names, he noted that “it would be helpful to have knowledge of Scottish football – that’s not everything but it’s certainly positive.”

“Will he be Scottish? Will he be German? Will he be from Mars or some other planet? I can’t tell you that now,” Pfannenstiel said.

“We just want to have the right man to make Aberdeen better.

“There are some teams at the moment playing lovely football in the Scottish Premiership, and they have a foreign manager who has never worked in Scotland before, and that doesn’t always mean foreigners don’t work in Aberdeen or don’t work elsewhere.

“It’s about style of play, philosophy, how do you want to play football? But it’s also about personality. In Scottish football, we have to have someone who motivates you, who pushes you.”

“We have a lot of young players, and I think they need that guidance to get a guy with a certain experience but also a certain enthusiasm, and that’s the image I keep clearly in my head.”