Elgin City sell former Aberdeen forward Michael Dangana to Highland League side Formartine United

Elgin City have sold former Aberdeen forward Michael Dangana to Highland League side Formartine United.

The 21-year-old joined City from manager Allan Hale’s previous club Huntly last January.

He made 15 starts and five sub appearances for the Black and Whites in 2024, scoring two goals.

Hale made eight signings in the summer as well as two loan captures and felt Dangana’s chances of regular football at Elgin had been affected by the transfer business.

He expects Dangana to be a popular addition to United’s squad and as strong a player in the Highland League as he was at Huntly.

“With Michael, I have nothing but great things to say about him,” said Hale. “He is someone that Stefan (assistant manager Laird) and I are huge admirers of and someone that we have an immense amount of trust in.

“Unfortunately the move here has not worked out in terms of the way that we had all hoped.

“The change in system, and the recruitment we have done has kind of scuppered his plans to play more frequently in the team and when he has done he’s maybe not delivered the performance to the expectation of the group, and that is unfortunate.

“We built up a pretty close relationship with him over the last three years and a personal friendship so it always hurts when you are forced to make decisions you are not entirely comfortable with.

“But I think that ultimately for all parties it is the right thing to do at this stage.

“We will continue to support Michael from afar and hope he goes and finds himself again, gets his confidence up and delivers the performances and the numbers that we know he is capable of.”

City have also loaned out Fin Allen to Huntly, with the forward scoring in his first game in Wednesday night’s 4=3 defeat to Forres Mechanics.

Hale says there should not be any more transfer ins and outs at Borough Briggs for the remainder of 2024.

“That will be our transfer business done now,” he said.

“We won’t be doing anything else at this stage unless we get a long-term injury that is unexpected but I would expect that to be our business concluded for this summer window.”