Aberdeen terminate contract of striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas

Aberdeen have ended striker Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’ time at Pittodrie, terminating the player’s contract more than a year early.

Emmanuel-Thomas had joined the club last summer, signing a two-year deal under former Dons boss Stephen Glass. He now leaves the Premiership side having scored just once.

A brief statement on the club website read: “The club can this afternoon confirm it has terminated the contract of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

“The forward made 24 appearances for the Dons, making 12 starts and 12 substitute appearances and netted once.

“All at Aberdeen FC wish Jay the very best in his future career.”

The former Livingston forward had failed to hold down a regular starting place in the Aberdeen team under Glass and found himself out of the picture completely when Jim Goodwin took over as manager earlier this year.

Goodwin had said that the 31-year-old’s fitness levels weren’t up to scratch.

“I had a good conversation with Jay when I came in,” he last month. “He has a little bit of work to do physically. It’s as simple as that.

“He is not fit enough to play the type of football that I want us to play. I have been very honest with him on that. He knows what he has to do.

“He is working hard behind the scenes, he is doing extra with the sports science team and that’s all we can ask of him at the moment.”

The departure comes days after it was revealed that Andy Considine would leave the club after 15 years with the first team, and that Michael Devlin has agreed termination of his contract after an injury-hit spell with the club.

Scott Brown left the club in early March to continue his coaching career elsewhere.