Tony Andreu has revealed that Dundee United boss Ray McKinnon convinced him to choose the Championship instead of the Premiership when making his loan move from Norwich.
The in-demand Frenchman moved to Tannadice last week and made a dream debut for his new side, netting an extra-time winner against Peterhead on Saturday in the Irn-Bru Cup.
Prior to signing for the Tangerines, Andreu had been attracting interest from a host of other clubs including top-tier outfits Aberdeen, Ross County and Dundee.
However, he admitted that McKinnon’s powers of persuasion made him decide United was the right fit.
Andreu said: “I wanted the challenge of playing for this club and trying to win promotion.
“I always enjoyed playing at Tannadice so when I had a good chat with the coach, I decided to come here.
“Maybe people will wonder why I came to the Championship when I could have played in the Premiership, but that’s just the way it went.
“I need to be playing and feeling good – and I think coming here is the best place to do that.
“I know of the manager from being in football and he impressed me. He’s a good manager and I like his way of seeing football.
“Speaking to him made my mind up and in the end, it was an easy choice.
“When you talk to someone and they immediately give you confidence, it makes your mind up.
“That is what happened, we spoke and I came away from the phone call thinking, ‘I really want to play for this club’, so that’s why I ended up here.
“It just came into my head that this was the right move for me.”
Andreu may have just arrived at Tannadice but he is already convinced that United have a squad capable of catching league leaders Hibs and ultimately going on to take the title.
The 28-year-old, who previously won promotion from the Championship when he was at Hamilton, added: “I am here to do my best and hopefully that means scoring goals.
“The most important thing is helping the team to win games, it’s not about me, it’s about everyone in the team.
“The quality is here to win the title, I know a lot of the players from before.
“We have what it takes to compete with Hibs, no problem.
“The stadium is good and the fans are always pushing the team.
“I always liked coming to Tannadice with Hamilton and I have scored here in the past.
“But that’s gone now and it is getting goals in the future that I’m more interested in.
“It was a good start for me on Saturday but we should have won the game in 90 minutes.
“But at the end of the game, it’s always good to have scored the winner and to leave the pitch feeling good.”
Andreu moved from Hamilton to Norwich in February, last year in a £1 million move.
He was reunited at Carrow Road with his former Accies boss Alex Neil but found his opportunities limited.
Now, he is just looking forward to playing regularly again.
He said: “I spoke to Alex Neil about it (the move) but that’s private. We agreed I needed to go somewhere else to play games.
“After that it was down to the clubs to make an agreement.
“When you don’t play it is frustrating because you want to be out on the pitch.
“But that’s football, sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t work out as well for you.
“When that’s the case, you just have to move on and get back to playing matches again, so that’s why I’m here at Dundee United.
“I still have a year after this season left on my contract so we will see what happens.
“Right now, this season is the most important thing and all I am focused on is getting promoted.”
