DEREK MCINNES admits he 'couldn't be more pleased' to have signed Ross McCrorie after the midfielder completed a switch from Rangers.

Aberdeen made a late move to beat Premiership rivals Hibernian to a deal for the 22-year-old and he will initially join the Reds on loan before making the arrangement permanent next term.

McCrorie had expressed a desire to leave Ibrox this summer after becoming frustrated with a lack of first team football under Steven Gerrard and the chance to work with McInnes is believed to have been one of the main attractions in making the move to Pittodrie.

And the Dons boss is delighted to have added further strength and depth to his squad as Aberdeen prepare to return to action against St Johnstone on Thursday evening.

"He is the type of signing we should be doing at this club," McInnes told RedTV. "A young, Scottish talent and someone I have admired for a couple of seasons.

"Every transfer window that came up we were always keen to see where he was in the pecking order there and obviously he had a loan spell at Portsmouth last season.

"When the opportunity came, obviously we are restricted in what we can do in terms of spending a fee, but when any fee could be delayed until next season, we were delighted to at least have the chance to bring him here.

"Once we got the chance and the opportunity to speak to him, I couldn't have been more impressed with the boy. I have spoken to a lot of people that have worked with him before, a lot of our lads know him from the international setup with the 21s and a lot of my staff have been involved with him at 21s. They have always spoken highly of him as a boy.

"I don't know him as well as I am going to know him but I think I know what he is and what he brings is real stature.

"A young, Scottish talent at 22-years-of-age coming to us on a four-year deal. I couldn't be more pleased with that signing."