Lutz Pfannenstiel has been speaking to the media for the first time since his appointment as Aberdeen’s new sporting director.

Here are the key points from his news conference:

• The German began with a nod to his colourful past – “Yes, I did have a penguin in my bathtub once” – but stressed he is here to focus on the future with Aberdeen and not “talk about some Arctic birds”.
• Pfannenstiel says he had “three or four other options” but Aberdeen was “where I really wanted to be” – the club’s tradition being among the many reasons why.
• He adds: “I watched Aberdeen when I was a kid because I liked Jim Leighton a lot as a former goalkeeper. I always followed Scottish football as I have friends playing up here as well. I played in the academy with Andreas Mayer who played for Aberdeen before, I always really followed it.”
• The 53-year-old says it is important to develop a playing strategy – a “DNA” – at every level of the club and “recruitment will be following through where everything is based on the playing style”.
• He adds: “Sometimes recruiting the best player on the market doesn’t always work out. You need to have the best fitting player on the market to your system and style and I think that is what we want to look at in detail.”
• On whether Jimmy Thelin is the man to take the club forward: “I think it was good news for Jimmy that I came in because I think he can focus more on what he wants to focus on and really purely concentrate on the coaching and working on the on-field stuff. I can take away a lot of pressure from him when it comes to dealing with recruitment, finding players. We see football very much the same and we are aligned on that.”
• Pfannenstiel accepts the start to the season has been below expectation but says you have “to trust the process… we are not too far away” and believes “small adjustments” in the January transfer window can have a big impact.
• He continues: “I see maybe one or two little puzzle pieces missing and if you fill those positions with the right players, I think some of the other players could really take off and go in the perfect right direction.”
• Youth development is high on his priority list: “I think giving local kids and players that come through the academy opportunities in the first team must be one of the major goals.”
• Pfannenstiel says when he worked at Hoffenheim, there were three or four players progressing from the academy to first team every year and he aims to do similar at Pittodrie.
• The German cited his attention to detail as a key strength: “It is always easy to have a good plan on a piece of paper or on an iPad and talk a big game but don’t do it. The implementation, working on the detail and be hands on – to be out and about – I think is extremely important.’