ROSS MCCRORIE admits he had to leave Rangers for the sake of his career after agreeing a four-year deal with Aberdeen.

The midfielder will spend the Premiership campaign on loan at Pittodrie and then make the move permanent on a contract until 2024 next summer.

McCrorie had become frustrated at a lack of first team football at Ibrox and the chance to work with Derek McInnes was a key factor in his decision to join the Dons.

He said: “I feel at the age I am at I just want to be playing regular first team football, that is why I told Rangers that I wanted to leave.

"It’s for the good of my career that I had to leave, to develop as a player and I feel as if Aberdeen is the right place for me to go on and improve myself as a player and as a person.

“I heard of Aberdeen’s interest a couple of days before I signed. Aberdeen is a massive club, so I was flattered when I heard the club was interested in me. I spoke to the gaffer and when he explained about the ambition here, that made it a no brainer.

“I wanted to come up to Aberdeen and I’m really happy that I will join on a permanent deal after this season. It’s a huge club. There is a lot of history around the club with its success in European football as well.

“Everything that the gaffer said was right for me and I felt immediately as if this was the place for me to come and develop as a player and to move my game on."