O Duk, Duk, wherefore art thou Duk?

The Luis Lopes Saga. Why did it have to be this way?

It was Dundee United for me. March 4th 2023. That was the day I officially replaced the Niall McGinn shaped-hole in my heart with Luís Henrique Barros Lopes. Duk. The Duk.

That goal epitomised the Cape Verdean at his best. The chasing of the lost cause. Making up the ground, around ten yards with his short, quick strides. The block of the clearance, presence of mind to head the spinning, bouncing ball into his path, the strength to hold off the defender. Skipping inside the covering man to create the smallest of openings. Not that we had time to think but was he going to roll it into the far corner? Maybe slip it to Miovski for a tap-in.

Was he aye? Nah, it was a backheel, from six yards. The United keeper and defenders, were so taken aback they couldn’t begin to think about stopping it. For the rest of us, after the rollercoaster of a season it had been, it was further confirmation that we had a superstar on our hands.

On a roll

He would score a double against Hearts in the next game. Another brace against Killie two weeks later, the only goal of the game against St. Johnstone. Then it was Rangers and though there were no goals, he was impressive and intense throughout in a famous win. A week later at Ibrox he as a constant threat and of course was denied a clear penalty when Goldson brought him down.

He finished the season with 18 goals. The same as Bojan Miovski, but Duk had six assists to Bojan’s two. There was legitimate debate at the time as to who would be sold for more cash. Miovski was clearly a talented and serious professional but Duk just had that wee bit of swagger and personality that made him a cult hero in such a short space of time. There was no Bojan equivalent of ‘DUUUUUUUUUUUUKKKKK’.

2023/24 Season

That summer, interest was rumoured from Tornio and Burnley. Keeping hold of Duk became a major concern for us all. Thankfully, no firm bids materialised and we kept held of the ex-Benfica man.

Yet within a few weeks of the new season, it was clear something was up. Duk, despite wearing his club gear on holiday, returned overweight and undermotivated.

There were no goals or assists in his first seven matches before he broke his 'duck’ against County on September 24th. He found himself being played wide on occasion when Robson went with a 5-4-1 shape, but often he was played alongside Miovski in the 5-3-2. One could understand his frustrations with the style of play but it did not seem to hinder Miovski who kicked on, especially in the first-half of the season.

In January, Spanish side Leganes ‘bombarded’ Aberdeen but could not get a deal done on deadline day. It’s at this point things seemed to nosedive. He would score twice against Motherwell at home, appropriately enough on Valentine’s Day. Other than the Cup Semi-Final versus Celtic, his contributions were limited. for the rest of the campaign. He would end the season with four goals in the league, and three in Europe (perhaps an indication of his broader intentions).

Going Awol

In June his agent, Carlos Oliveira, interviewed by Football Scotland, made the following statements:

“He’ll have to leave this summer. Aberdeen will have to realise that they passed up excellent offers in the summer of 2023 and January 2024. Duk will have one more year on his contract and in January 2025 he can sign as a free player. We don’t want to do that – we’re grateful to Aberdeen, but they’ll have to be flexible.”

On July 12th it was revealed by the club that Duk had "failed to report to training and is currently absent without permission". The Dons had "made attempts to communicate with Duk, but he has refused to engage with us directly".

And that’s been about it for over a month.

“He’s not here”

This was the response of Jimmy Thelin when asked about Duk in his press conference on Friday. With all the positivity, the Miovski transfer and Keskinen’s arrival, this whole story has hardly been mentioned, yet it still seems crazy that one of our best players is completely awol, with no sign of returning.

One would think, by now, with the window closing on less than a week we’re surely headed to some resolution. But then who would want a player who behaves like this, let alone be willing to stump up anywhere the amount Aberdeen would be looking for.

It may well rumble onto January when Duk signs a pre-contract with some Portugeuse second division side and Aberdeen accept a token offer to get him off the books.

The saddest part is that Duk looks like he would be tailor made for Thelin. A player with pace and strength and skill with the ability to finish. Duk for Sokler or Morris and things start looking a lot more menacing.

We’ll always have Tannadice I suppose. And it’s hard to hate the man who brought so much joy in such a short space of time with his big smile.

But Duk min, you blew it. You blew it.