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Aberdeen have not given up hope on signing Greg Stewart on a permanent deal despite reports of interest from Rangers, says manager Derek McInnes.

Forward Stewart, 29, is on loan from Birmingham City until the end of the season and has been

McInnes has been trying to sign him on a permanent deal since January.

"If there was a chance to keep Greg then I would be doing my best to keep him," the Aberdeen manager said.

"We felt in January, speaking to him and his agent, that they wanted to look at options."

Stewart will become a free agent in the summer, and McInnes says the quality of his performances explain why other clubs are being linked with a move for him.

The forward scored eight goals for Kilmarnock in the first half of the campaign, and has netted once since moving to Pittodrie for a second loan spell.

"It's no surprise his agent has been speaking to clubs, there's a lot of clubs that would recognise Greg's talent," McInnes said.

"When you saw him come on the other night [against Motherwell] he helped game go our way with his quality."

McInnes says he believes there is a focus on the bigger teams when it comes to Scottish FA disciplinary action after both Aberdeen and Hearts were charged after a confrontation at Tynecastle last weekend.

Hearts manager Craig Levein raised concerns that such sanctions may dilute the competitive edge of games, but McInnes conceded it is hard to defend the incident, in which four players were booked.

"I think a lot of the bigger teams are maybe looked at a bit more - I go to games and see loads of confrontations," he said.

"As long as it's a rule for every team big or small. But I can't have any complaints if we've been deemed to have crossed a line there - it's hard to defend that.

"I'm obviously disappointed we have been cited but if that's the rules, that's the rules."