GOALKEEPER Michael McGovern yesterday joined Dundee United from Celtic and immediately set his sights on helping the Tangerines into Europe next season.
Craig Levein's men narrowly missed out on third place last term, but with the news that the SPL is to get an additional Uefa Cup spot their hopes of returning to the European stage have already been enhanced.
McGovern, who signed a one-year deal a
long with German youngster Andis Shala, has experienced high-profile Champions League action as part of the Parkhead club's travelling party, but only ever got as far as the bench on those blue riband occasions.
The 23-year-old Northern Ireland international rejected an offer of a new deal from Celtic to move on to pursue regular first-team football on Tayside. He revealed: "Dundee United is perfect for me and the manager has made it clear he sees me challenging for the jersey.
"I've not come here to be a reserve – I'm looking to play games and establish myself in the side. I know it will be hard because Lukasz Zaluska is a good keeper but I feel I'm ready for the challenge.
"United are one of the top teams in the country and were very unlucky to miss out on Europe last season. The manager has said he has got high hopes for next season and to be part of a successful team would be great. Hopefully this season we'll be able to qualify for Europe because the squad is definitely good enough and there's an extra place. That's a huge incentive."
Gordon Strachan made McGovern an offer to remain in Glasgow, but the lure of SPL action proved too strong.
Although training with the likes of £10 million-rated Artur Boruc and Henrik Larsson proved a learning curve for the keeper he admits his education had reached the end of the road at Parkhead. He said: "My contract was up at Celtic and they offered me another one, but I thought the time was right to try something new. It was very frustrating sometimes, but I can understand why the manager wouldn't let me out on loan because he needed three goalkeepers for the Champions League. I was playing with some world-class players at Celtic Park and you learn loads from coming up against the likes of Henrik Larsson and Nakamura every day."
Levein believes that with McGovern and Pole Zaluska he now has two top-quality keepers and is looking forward to seeing them battle it out for a place in his side. He said: "Michael has a great education coming from Celtic and training with the likes of Artur Boruc."
Levein also revealed that it was the reaction of his own players at seeing 19-year-old Shala, who has signed a three-year deal from German side VfR Mannheim, which helped convince him to pounce so quickly following his recent trial.
He said: "Andis joined us on trial and immediately I was taken by him. Right away I thought he had something. He put himself about a bit and that had some of the other players coming up to me to ask: 'Who's this guy?' When players do that and are asking if we're going to sign him it's a very positive signal."
The full article contains 558 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
