IT is perhaps no surprise to learn that Sam Cosgrove is eager to make up for lost time after making his return from injury against Celtic last week, but the Aberdeen forward is desperate to start this afternoon’s game against the same opponents for more than one reason.

Fixtures like today’s Scottish Cup semi-final were central to Cosgrove’s reasoning when he decided to knock back a multi-million pound move to French side Guingamp in the summer, so he is delighted he is fit enough to potentially make an impact for his side.

"When the opportunity arose in the summer to potentially go to France, it was something I had to sit down and think about,” Cosgrove said. “Not for very long because there wasn't long left in their window, so they were really pushing it through quickly.

“There was a lot of circumstances that came into my decision but one of them was I have the potential to play European football, to win trophies compared to going playing second division football in France, even further away from my family and 100 per cent games like Sunday were definitely one of the big factors in deciding to stay.

"When you hear you have the opportunity to move abroad for a multi-million pound fee, it's naturally attractive and you want to hear it out and see what it is, but after quite a bit of deliberation and speaking to people close to me, it turns out it just wasn't the right time and right place for me to move on.”

Perhaps there was mixed feelings from Pittodrie chairman Dave Cormack when that decision was made, but the £3m banked from the sale of Scott McKenna may have softened that blow to the club’s coffers.

"I didn't manage to speak to Dave personally but from what I've heard he could have done with the couple of quid extra,” Cosgrove said.

“It did cross my mind, but it's my career and there have been plenty of protocols put in place and contingency plans from the club and I had been reassured that the club would be fine.

“A couple of extra million of course would help out but from what I've been told the money wouldn't have made a massive difference.

“The manager was good and said it was my decision. The bid had been accepted, so it was whether I wanted to go and thought it was the right move for me and at the time it wasn't, so that was the decision I made.”