Mark Reynolds says Ryan Fraser alone should decide his fate

ABERDEEN defender Mark Reynolds says people should leave Ryan Fraser to make his own decision on the next stage of his career because the youngster is the one who will have to live with the consequences.

The Pittodrie teenager has refused to sign a new deal and will be free to sign a pre-contract in January and move on in the summer. In his first season as a first team regular, the 18-year-old has received rave reviews and it is believed Celtic, as well as a few English clubs, have shown interest.

Many, however, feel a move now would be premature and could stunt Fraser’s football development.

Reynolds, who came through the youth ranks at Motherwell and tried his luck down south before joining Aberdeen on loan from Sheffield Wednesday last January, says the promising midfielder has to do what he thinks is best for him.

“To be honest, it’s really none of our business. It’s his own personal decision and we can all say here’s the positives and negatives and people will have opinions on what he should have done, but, when we come back four years down the line, he will either have made it big or maybe he will have done nothing and there will be those who said he should stay and those who said he should go. The people who said one thing will be right and the ones who said the other will be wrong. Only time will tell.

“You want to give young lads advice, but it’s different for every single player. Ryan could go down south and hit the ground running and be playing in the Premiership or the Championship week in, week out.

“He could go down and disappear for three or four years and then establish himself in a first team away from all the pressure and the media, or he could stay here, play another three years at Aberdeen and then move down to the Premiership or he could stay up here, break his leg and never kick a ball again.

“There are so many permutations and it is so hard to know what is best. It’s easy for other people to say ‘do this or do that’, but you just have to do the best with what you have in front of you.

“When you look back in a few years it will either be the right or the wrong decision, but, so long as you think it was the right decision at the time, then you can deal with it.”