Cagliari line up £3.5m bid for Aberdeen midfielder Lewis Ferguson

Lewis Ferguson's agent has primed Aberdeen to prepare for a £3.5million bid from Italian club Cagliari.

The Serie A strugglers sent two representatives to watch the Scotland midfielder score a brace of penalties in a 3-1 win over Hibs on Saturday.

After a four-hour dinner in Edinburgh with them, agent Bill McMurdo plans to fly to Milan for further discussions with Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini next month.

Ferguson, 22, has been identified as a ready-made replacement for Uruguayan midfielder Nahitan Nandez, whose season is in doubt after knee ligament damage and is expected to leave the club this summer.

‘Cagliari have been tracking Lewis carefully for 18 months,’ McMurdo told Sportsmail.

‘Had they sold Nandez in January, then I think it would have happened.

‘They were in contact with Aberdeen last week over sending two representatives to the game.

‘I organised the trip and Aberdeen looked after them very well.

‘I then had a four-hour meeting with the two men in Edinburgh on Saturday night and they are very keen.

‘They were very impressed with Lewis’ performance against Hibs.

‘They met him for a few minutes to say hello and they were very impressed with him as a person, as well.’

Named in Steve Clarke’s squad for Scotland’s forthcoming friendlies against Poland and then Wales or Austria, Ferguson submitted a written transfer request last season after Aberdeen branded an offer from Watford ‘insulting’.

McMurdo subsequently accused the Dons of breaching a verbal agreement to sell the player if a club from the English Premier League came knocking.

Appealing to the Pittodrie hierarchy to adopt a different stance if Cagliari firm up their interest with an offer this summer, he added: ‘I am hoping that Aberdeen will see