PETER MacDONALD, the Dundee striker, has labelled team-mate Craig Wighton a "special talent" and believes the 16-year-old will likely earn himself a big move come the end of the season.

The Scotland under-17 player has become a key figure in Dundee's push for promotion to the SPFL Premiership, playing alongside MacDonald in attack. The 33-year-old, a nominee for the Cheque Centre/PFA Scotland player of the year award for the Championship, has been impressed with the teenager's maturity and believes he will only get better.

"He's absolutely outstanding for his age, the best I've seen or played with at 16 and I include my time at Rangers where there were a lot of good players," said MacDonald. "He's a special talent and I can see he's starting to fill out as a boy. He deserves so much praise. He's so level-headed and even when he goes about the park he doesn't speak to the first-team boys despite training with us every day.

"I think he'll come out of his shell in a couple of years when he realises how good he is and potentially how good he can be. He's got pace, he's filling out and he's got an amazing brain. He's a step ahead of everyone. If the money is right then I don't think he'll be there at the start of the season.

"I played with Stephen Hughes at Rangers who was outstanding at a young age but injuries hampered him, and Allan McGregor, although he's a goalkeeper, but Wighton is ahead of them all. I haven't seen Ryan Gauld or John Souttar much but I know they're very good young players. I can only speak about Wighton and if you ask anyone in the Dundee team they'll tell you how amazing he is."