Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes was pleased Matty Kennedy kept resolute in his desire to join the Dons.
The Pittodrie club announced on Wednesday night that the St Johnstone midfielder had signed a pre-contract to join the Granite City men on a three-year deal in the summer.
Hearts had also registered their interest in the 25-year-old but McInnes was happy to be able to look forward to Kennedy’s arrival in the summer.
Ahead of the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Dumbarton at Pittodrie on Saturday, he said: “It is done, we have kept St Johnstone up to speed the whole way along and we look forward to it. I am delighted we have got him.
“Obviously we weren’t the only club in town trying to get him, he had other options.
“But having spoken to Matty, I felt the conversation we had with him was two-way, how keen he was to come here and how keen I was to get him here and thankfully his word was strong, as was ours, and we have got him with us and we look forward to picking that up in the summer.”
McInnes is also pleased to have recently brought in Dylan McGeouch from Sunderland.
The 26-year-old Scotland midfielder signed a two-and-a-half year contract before joining the Dons in time for their winter training camp in Dubai last week.
The Aberdeen manager said: “I would still like to add to the squad and Dylan is part of that. I am delighted to get him in.
“We are working with him to get him up to speed so the training week was good.
“He hasn’t had a lot of football of late but good players are good players and we are delighted to get another good player in the building so we will continue to chip away and see what else is there for us.”
McInnes insists he will not be taking Jim Duffy’s League One side lightly.
He said: “We will pick out our strongest team and totally give Dumbarton and Jim full respect.
“There will be shocks in the cup and we just need to make sure it is not at Pittodrie.
“We don’t pick a team trying to get people up to speed or with the next game in mind, it is about playing to win the game.
“The onus is on us being the home team, the Premiership team and being Aberdeen, to overcome that challenge.”
