GREGG WYLDE hopes he can revitalise his career at St Mirren after signing an 18-month deal with Danny Lennon's side.

The former Rangers winger was released by Aberdeen yesterday after struggling to get regular football under the manager Derek McInnes and St Mirren moved quickly to add him to their squad.

The former Scotland Under-21 player could make his debut against Hibernian at Easter Road this weekend, a ground where he scored his only Aberdeen goal earlier in the season.

Wylde won the SPL Clydesdale Bank Premier League and the League Cup with Rangers in 2011 but left for Bolton Wanderers when the Ibrox club went into administration the following year. After failing to make a first-team appearance at the Reebok, the 22-year-old had a short loan spell at Bury before signing a three-year deal at Pittodrie last summer. Wylde, however, struggled to establish himself in an Aberdeen team enjoying a stellar season and now hopes he can get his career back on track at St Mirren.

"It's a fresh start for me in many ways," he said. "I just want to try to get back to the form I showed when I was at Rangers, playing most weeks and helping the team win trophies. Obviously things didn't quite work out as I had hoped at Aberdeen. I signed a three-year deal in the summer but the team has been doing really well so it was harder for me to get in. I was on the bench most weeks - the last time I played was about eight weeks ago against Partick Thistle in the Scottish Cup. It's been tough for me as the manager was picking the same team every week. I told him I needed games and now this move has happened. I thought initially it was going to be a loan deal but then the chance came to make it a permanent deal with a good club, a good manager, and back down in Glasgow as well, so I grabbed it."

Despite St Mirren sitting just two points clear of the play-off place, the winger believes they should still be looking up the table. "I like the philosophy of the club and the way the manager tries to play. There are a good group of young boys at the club and the style of play should suit me. St Mirren are not that far off the top six so that should be the aim."