St Mirren manager Gary Teale was wrong to criticise midfielder Kenny McLean for a lack of ambition in choosing a move to the Dons instead of England according to Aberdeen assistant-manager Tony Docherty.
Teale claimed the 23-year-old midfielder made a mistake by staying the Premiership after his deadline day £300,000 move, accusing the former Scotland under-21 international of merely wanting a change of scene.
There were no offers from English clubs to consider and Docherty believes McLean has made the right move by remaining north of the border.
He said: “Kenny is a really level-headed, ambitious young man. He has a plan, he knows where he is going and we think he has the potential and talent to fulfil his ambitions.
“At the moment he is at Aberdeen as part of the plan. He has come to a bigger and better club with a stronger squad.
“Our hope and intention is he will flourish and then his career will kick on from there.
“He will end up playing at the top level if his career keeps on the path it is on at the moment.
“The top level is the English Premier League and that is what every player aspires to as it is one of the best leagues in the world.
“Kenny McLean and Ryan Jack will both go on to have good careers.
“They are both well advised and they know the direction they are taking.
“I wouldn’t misinterpret that as someone lacking ambition.
“It is more somebody who is focused, driven and knows where they are going.”
Aberdeen can extend its extend their unbeaten Scottish Premiership run to 12 matches at Hamilton this afternoon.
The Dons were beaten 3-0 by Accies when they last visited New Douglas Park in October and Docherty believes his side learned valuable lessons from the defeat.
He added: “It would be one of the matches to pick out as being a pivotal moment in the season.
“We have played them since them and beat them 1-0 in the cup and 3-0 in the league.
“We are going back to a place where we know it could have been so different on the night if we had taken our chances.
“After that we went on a really good run.
“That was a sore one and we will do everything we can to avoid a repeat.”