Seb Ross believes joining Cove Rangers will help him improve.
The 20-year-old has signed a three-year contract with the Aberdeen club.
Ross left Aberdeen earlier this summer, having progressed through the youth ranks at Pittodrie.
However, the midfielder had seen his hopes of being a Dons first-team regular fade and realised he needed to play senior football elsewhere.
He believes League One side Cove can provide him with the platform to do that and develop.
Ross said: “I just felt it was time to leave Aberdeen. I couldn’t see myself going any further and I’m at a point where I need to play games.
“So going to Cove with a great manager, a great way of playing and great ambitions seemed like the best place for me to develop.
“When it came to leaving Aberdeen, I felt I needed to go and get games at the highest level possible.
“Once I knew Cove were interested, it was a no-brainer really. It’s all good playing in development squads, but there’s no better way to learn than playing in senior games with and against experienced players.
“I’m sure playing in League One will help me improve as a player.”
Having been full-time with Aberdeen, Ross will need to adapt to playing part-time football with Cove.
However, he says he will retain his full-time standards and mindset and added: “I’m going to continue with a full-time mindset, even though it’s part-time.
“I go out and do individual fitness work to keep myself ticking over and in good shape.
“Over lockdown, doing that definitely helped my mindset. I will have to adapt, but I have a full-time mentality and I want to keep to those standards and hopefully that will show in my performances.”
Other factors in Ross’ decision to join Cove is the ambition of the club of the club to progress higher than League One and also the opportunity to play alongside experienced players.
As a fellow midfielder, he is keen to learn from former Aberdeen, Wigan, Hibs and Dundee United player Fraser Fvyie.
Ross added: “I’m absolutely buzzing to join the club. I think Cove is a club with big expectations and big ambitions.
“So hopefully I come into that and add to what is already a great team and help get the club to where they want to go.
“I think Fraser Fyvie is someone to look up to because he plays in midfield, so I’d love to play next to him with his experience.
“I think that could be massive for me going forward.”
