When the Dons came calling two months ago, Dundee rejected his offer for Caballero, while the asking price for in-form Lovell meant that move did not get as far as a formal offer.

The same seems likely to apply again in Lovell’s case, though, as a free agent come the close season, Argentine star Caballero will be free to speak to any club.

The pair are among 10 new faces on the Pittodrie shopping list and the Dons have already agreed a deal in principle with Czech trialist Lubomir Blaha — it will be finalised if he impresses in training.

Lovell, though, remains the No. 1 target for next season.

“Nothing has changed as far as the players we made moves for in January are concerned. We are still interested in Lovell, Caballero and Nicholson,” said Jimmy Calderwood.

“We won’t be upping our offers, but their clubs know we will be making further inquiries as we get towards the end of the campaign. We need strikers and wide midfielders, so I haven’t ruled anyone out at this stage.”

Despite that positive talk, financing deals for the likes of Caballero could still be a problem. Even though no fee would be involved, Aberdeen are working to further reduce their wage bill and may struggle to come up with the kind of basic wage he will be looking for.

From Dens boss Jim Duffy’s point of view, at the moment he has more important matters to deal with.

“Right now, I have got enough on my plate worrying about this season without thinking about next. With Caballero, there is nothing we can do about clubs speaking to him because he will be out of contract and can speak to other teams,” he said.

“Our other staff are under contract, however, and that means business would have to be done through us. Of course, if any genuine offers came in for players we would consider them, but that has not happened yet and it is not something we are thinking about.”

Rather than transfer activity, today both city clubs were looking for needed boosts from reserve fixtures — this afternoon Livingston were visitors at Dens, while Dundee United travelled to Stenhousemuir to face Motherwell.

Returning from injury for the Tangerines were top scorer Jim McIntyre and skipper Derek McInnes. McIntyre has been out with strained ankle ligaments since the draw with ICT last month, while a minor knee operation sidelined McInnes at the start of February.

Despite the length of their absences, if the two come through unscathed, they will be on duty against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday.

“We need their experience and ability back and, so long as there has been no reaction to today’s game, they will both be able to make Saturday no problem,” said United boss Ian McCall.

Back at Dens, Jim Duffy made it clear to his second string that he was looking for players to push themselves forward for a place against Rangers on Sunday.

“The fact there were a number of bad performances on Saturday does not in itself mean some of those who didn’t play should automatically come in,” he said.

“What I told them I wanted was for them to stake a claim themselves and, while it would be wrong to say people will get places on the strength of just one reserve game, there is no doubt those playing had the chance to do themselves a lot of good.”

While he would like to have had Iain Anderson — out since early December with knee trouble — back in the first-team reckoning, he was held back today and won’t be ready for several more weeks.

“He still is not right yet, and to even have played him in the reserves would not have done him any justice just now,” added the manager.

Looking ahead to Saturday, United have announced they will again be paying for supporters’ buses to Rugby Park. As usual, the scheme is being administered by the Federation of United Supporters’ Clubs.