Taylor says Mckenna has what it takes to make it big down south

Aberdeen’s Ash Taylor insists fellow defender Scott Mckenna has all the qualities clubs in England crave.

In the past two years, the Dons have rejected bids from Hull City, Celtic, Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday for Kirriemuir-born Mckenna – and the Pittodrie club is braced for more interest when the transfer window opens next month.

Taylor believes it is inevitable that Mckenna will move on in the near future and he is not surprised that the queue of admirers is growing.

He said: “He’s aggressive and you need to be like a centre-back down there because all the lads are as big as me. They’re as big as you’re going to get and he can deal with that. He’s an intelligent boy.

“He’s only going to develop more because he’s a young lad.

“He’s left footed as well and they’re hard to come by at centre half.

“We’ve got him at the minute so we’ve got to enjoy it now while we can. He’ll go on to enjoy bigger or better things but while he’s at this football club we’ve got to help him do his job and help us as a club to push on.”

Mckenna’s meteoric rise has taken Taylor by surprise but he believes his team-mate can still get better.

He said: “His development’s been massive. I knew he was going to be a good player because he’s aggressive, he’s quite tidy on the ball and he’s a very good defender.

“I knew that he was going to kick on but I didn’t realise how quickly he would. He took his chance with both hands and ran with it. It’s good for him and fantastic for the club.”

Rarity: Scott Mckenna.