ABERDEEN have today knocked back a bid from Hull City for Scott McKenna and informed the Championship side the defender is not for sale.

The Dons tonight confirmed Hull City made an official approach for the 21-year-old centre-back who signed a long term contract extension last October tying him to Pittodrie until summer 2021.

That approach was rejected and Aberdeen have made it clear to Hull City boss Nigel Adkins that McKenna is not for sale.

Dons boss Derek McInnes, out in Dubai with his squad at a warm winter training camp, recently confirmed he does not want to lose any first team regulars in the January transfer window.

McKenna has started 15 of the last 16 games since making his breakthrough in the 1-0 win over Motherwell earlier this season.

Hull boss Adkins confirmed he had made a bid for McKenna.

Following Hull’s 0-0 draw with Reading today, Adkins said: “Yes, we’ve made a bid.

“There’s going to be a lot of speculation, Scott is up at Aberdeen and I know Derek (McInnes) well, I was speaking to him earlier in the week.

“He’s a left-footed centre-half who has a big future in front of him, I think.”

Adkins also confirmed Hull City may yet come in with another bid for the highly rated Dons defender.

He said: “It’s fair to say conversations go on, you put a bid in it might get knocked back, you put another in and you see where it goes, but there is a definite interest from ourselves.

“He’s an Aberdeen player and I have a lot of respect for McInnes and what he’s done up in Aberdeen and anything we do will be done in the right manner, we don’t want to unsettle anybody, but we’ve looked at him and we believe he could have a very bright future.”