Craig Brown has admitted that Fraser Fyvie is likely to leave the club to pursue his career in England.

The 18-year-old midfielder has been a regular with the Dons for almost three seasons and holds the SPL record for the youngest ever goalscorer.

However, with his contract up in December, Fyvie has seemingly decided that his future lies south of the border.

Craig Brown said: "He's not signalled that he wants to leave, he wants to go at the end of his contract.

"At no time has he mentioned money. He's never said 'I'll stay if...'. To his credit he's honest about it and he's never deviated from that. The first time we spoke to him, and that was months ago, he said he saw his career as going to England.

"I predict he'll sign a pre-contract six months from the end, that'll be the summer, and leave in December."

While Brown will be disappointed to lose such a talented youngster, he refutes the suggestion that Fyvie owes the club more loyalty after he was helped through a season-long injury sustained against Alloa by the Pittodrie staff.

He continued: "Every young player wants to progress in his career. You could argue that our people helped him through a nasty injury, but he did so playing for Aberdeen, doing his best for Aberdeen. So he would be entitled to expect that Aberdeen football club would help him recover, which they did."

Brown also said that he had told the player to wait a little while longer and establish himself before forcing a move to England.

He concluded: "If I were his agent I'd say wait for a little longer. But the young lads nowadays want to be superstars early and he might well be. But that's his decision and we have to accept it."