KENNY McLean will join English Championship club Norwich City in a £200,000 move today - before being loaned back to Aberdeen for the remainder of the season.

McLean, who won his second Scotland cap in the friendly against the Netherlands at Pittodrie in November, is set to sign a three and a half year deal at Carrow Road.

But the 26-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, will stay with Derek McInnes’s side until the end of the 2017/18 campaign.

The central midfielder has been linked with a move to Rangers, who had an offer for the player turned down during the close season, on a free transfer in the summer.

So this deal - cash plus the player returning on loan - is a good one for Aberdeen and should help them in their bid to finish runners-up in the Ladbrokes Premiership for the fourth season running and win the William Hill Scottish Cup.

McLean, who joined the north-east club from St. Mirren for £300,000 at the end of the January transfer window three years ago, helped McInnes’s men beat his former club 4-1 at home in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup on Saturday.

He is the latest Aberdeen player to be lured away as a result of their success - Jonny Hayes moved to Celtic and Ryan Jack departed for Rangers in the summer.

However, the Glasgow-born player believes that playing in the second tier in England will help him challenge for a regular start in the national team, who are set to appoint a new manager.

He will also increase his wages substantially playing down south for the Canaries.

Two Norwich players, Russell Martin and Steven Naismith, have moved to clubs in Scotland on loan during the window, joining Rangers and Hearts respectively.