Brown thrilled as Aberdeen recruit ex-Hearts trialist Arnason

The 28-year-old has impressed manager Craig Brown in training and friendly action this week and is set to sign a contract on Monday. Arnason, who can play in defence or midfield, had a trial with Hearts earlier this summer after leaving Plymouth.

Brown told RedTV: "I think we have got a good quality international player. His preferred choice is midfield but he has played at the back comfortably. We have a good array of midfield players and it's just where we need him that we'll play him."

Arnason will be Brown's fifth summer signing and the former Scotland manager feels his side will be harder to beat next term. "We have stiffened up the team and hopefully it will be a resolute side that plays for Aberdeen this season," he said. "We found last season the team rolled over a bit too easily. We need players with good athleticism and strength of character as well as physical strength. We are adding to the strength of the team. Just a little more flair would help now.

"If we can get a striker with flair to add to the good strikers we have, I think we'll have a very competitive squad this season."

Meanwhile, Inverness manager Terry Butcher has pulled the plug on a move for former Arsenal full-back Kerrea Gilbert, claiming the player broke the club's trust.

Caley had forked out cash for the Englishman's MRI scan, hotels and flights during a trial period in the Highlands. But concerns over the potential seriousness of a calf injury persuaded Butcher to place a contract offer on ice for a few weeks during rehab.

The Inverness manager assured the 24-year-old a deal remained on the table and allowed Gilbert to return home to his London-based family for a few days. To Butcher's astonishment, Gilbert, instead of resting up, then reportedly played in a trial match for MK Dons.

Butcher said: "Kerrea needed two or three weeks' rehab, then seven to ten days running - it would have been a four or five week delay at most. He was devastated when we told him because he wanted a contract straight away.

"I said, look, you've been waiting a year so a month should be nothing to you now. After that, there'll be a contract for you. Kerrea then asked on Friday to go back down south to see his little boy and girlfriend and come back the next Wednesday.

"We agreed and on Saturday afternoon he goes and plays for MK Dons in a trial match. It was even on their website. So I spoke to his agent and told him he wouldn't be getting a contract here. I just binned it. He has let us down badly."

Butcher, meanwhile, has also dropped his interest in re-signing Stuart Duff.