Leigh Griffiths has been unveiled as a Wolves player, after the final details were completed on his £150,000 transfer from Dundee.
And while he is clearly excited by the challenge that now awaits him in the English Premier League, the 20-year-old striker made a point of thanking the club and supporters he has left behind.
“I think every one of the Dundee fans stayed behind on Saturday to clap me away,” he said. “It was a really nice mark of respect. Everyone at Dundee has been great to me.
“But I’m at Wolves now and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s not every day you get to join a Premier League club and I’m absolutely buzzing that the deal has gone through.
“Of course I know I’m not going to walk straight into the team here. I’ll be working hard on the training field and then if I get my chance I’ve got to grab it with both hands.”
Wolves boss Mick McCarthy said, “It’s clearly a big step up from the Scottish first division to the Premier League but Leigh has certainly got potential to improve.
“We’ve had a chance to look at him in training and we’ve seen that he can finish. Leigh accepts he has a big challenge but we’ve been successful in the past at signing young players who have gone on to develop for us and he has a chance to get into that bracket.”
One of Griffiths’ new team-mates has warned him there is a lot of hard work ahead before he can expect to make an impact at Wolves.Bulk upVeteran defender Jody Craddock backed up Molineux boss McCarthy’s assessment that Griffiths will have to bulk up to cope with defenders in England’s top flight.
He is viewed as one for the future by the Midlands club and could be heading back north straight away for a loan spell to the end of the season, with St Johnstone, Hearts and Hibs all believed to be interested.
Craddock saw enough in the Scotland under-21 internationalist during his recent training stint with the Wolves first team to be convinced of the former Livingston man’s raw talent.
But the job now begins of making him “bigger, better and stronger,” he pointed out.
Craddock said, “Leigh is a small lad who is nippy and gets in and out of people. I think it will be a big thing for him to come straight in because he’s got to find himself, get confident and feel his way into the club.
“Hopefully the team will help him get bigger, better and stronger so that one day he will be a good addition to the squad because he’s got a good left foot on him.
“He’s got a really good scoring record in Scotland and I have seen flashes of that in training, so hopefully that nice left foot can get us a couple of goals.”