Tom Cairney has completed a £3.5million move from Blackburn to Fulham - and reckoned he is going to a Premier Club in the making.
The 24-year-old midfielder with 85 appearances in two seasons and nine goals at Rovers, insists he is not moving sideways.
“For most of my life Fulham have been a Premier League club and have only been out of it for a year. They’ve had some great players over the years and it’s a very attractive club to come to,” he told the club’s website.
“Every player wants to play in the Premier League and if I can do that with Fulham that would be fantastic.”
He now escapes ribbing from Rovers team-mates over his uncanny likeness to pop star Justin Bieber, and knowing the banter among players, into another round of leg-pulling.
Cairney admitted he was the architect of his own mickey-taking.
“It was on my old Facebook,” he said. “I had a basketball vest on and shades and a cap backwards.
“I didn't have any stubble because I can't grow it so they thought I looked a bit like Bieber. He's not bad with the ladies is he? And I like a few of his songs so it could have been worse.”
However, the man with a sweet left-foot who operates best in the centre of midfield (see video) appears far more modest than his Canadian lookalike.
In an FA Cup tie with Manchester City the season before last he got to swap shirts with Yaya Touré.
The City legend’s hangs on Cairney’s wall. The ex-Rover believes Touré had other uses for his.
“I think he needed something to clean his car with,” he added.
