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NIALL McGinn has handed Aberdeen a massive boost after knocking back big money bids from THREE Championship clubs.

Birmingham City, Sheffield United and Leeds United all made late moves for the red hot Aberdeen hitman but the Northern Ireland international told them he was not interested.

McGinn is loving life at Pittodrie and wants to repay Craig Brown after the Dons boss helped rejuvenate his career after stalling at Celtic and a frustrating loan spell at Brentford.

The 25-year-old blasted his 16th goal of the campaign in Wednesday night’s 3-1 defeat to St Johnstone and his stunning form sparked interest in England.

Aberdeen were determined not to sell their prize asset but were forced to take notice when the Championships sides made their move with bids of more than £500,000.

It would have taken much more to land the star but Brown was lining up a late move for Hearts’ striker John Sutton in case McGinn departed.

But the boss was relieved after McGinn told the Dons he was going nowhere - for now.

The attacker still has ambitions to crack down south and Aberdeen are expecting a struggle to keep hold of him in the summer.

It is not on McGinn’s mind at the moment though. His focus is only on turning around the Pittodrie club’s stuttering season.

The Dons have slid to sixth in the SPL after the thumping in Perth and face a crucial Scottish Cup fifth round clash at Hibs on Sunday.

McGinn said: “I think this is the first real test of character for us. We are going through a period where we are not getting the results we want.

“We have been doing okay performance wise and we know we are good enough to come out of it.

“We definitely have a good enough squad but we need to start proving that we can go on a run.

“Results in the past few weeks have not been good enough and we have just got to get back to the training ground.

“This cup game could be the turning point of our season because we know we are going to bring a massive crowd.

“We want to put on a show for them and hopefully they don’t go home disappointed.

“We have shown we can go to Hibs and get a result so we know what to expect from them.

“After a game like that against St Johnstone, Sunday can’t come quick enough. And I’d love a run in the cup and get a run out at Hampden.

“I know what happened last year in the semi-final against Hibs and we will want to go one step further and get to the final this time.”

Aberdeen snapped up keeper Dan Twardzik on an 18-month deal after the 21-year-old secured his release from Italian Serie C side Calcio Como.

The youngster - who is the older brother of Celtic twins Patrik and Filip - impressed on trial earlier in the season and will provide back up for Jamie Langfield following the departure of Jason Brown.