He has recently been playing in front of 60,000 crowds with players such as Nicolas Anelka but Darren O’Dea insists coming to Dundee was the “perfect fit” for him.
The former Celtic centre-half joined the Dark Blues yesterday until the end of the season after his spell with the Indian Super League club Mumbai City came to a conclusion.
The 28-year-old’s adventure on the sub-continent brought down the curtain on three years of travelling with O’Dea ending his spell with the Hoops to move to the MLS to join Toronto FC in 2012 before signing for Ukrainian side FC Metalurh Donetsk.
The Republic of Ireland international then moved to England on a short-term deal with Blackpool before linking up with Mumbai in the summer of 2015.
Now though, the defender who had been drafted in by Dens boss and former Celtic team-mate Paul Hartley as cover for the injured James McPake, is relishing his return to Scotland.
He said: “It’s been a while. I was delighted when I signed but I think my wife and my daughter were celebrating a bit more. It’s great to be back in a league I know surrounded by people I know. I am just looking forward to getting started.
“I’d say the main things were being based in Scotland, the manager and if you look at attendance records in Scotland, Dundee are near enough the top of it. So all in all it was a perfect fit for me.
“I have been away for two, three years on and off. It is unsettling at times. I have certainly enjoyed it, I like the experience of different countries and it is a short career.
“I like to see different countries and cultures. But for the family I leave behind most times, it’s hard. I wouldn’t have just come back for the sake of it. But when the manager phoned it was a pretty straightforward decision.”
O’Dea strongly refuted a suggestion that moving to India was a sign that his career had been winding down.
He said: “India was fantastic what a place. We were looked after better than I have ever been at any club. The people just went out their way. It was a fantastic place to be. Very, very different obviously. But it was an experience I am delighted I had. It is something that I might revisit again.
“There were a lot of great players, some of them coming towards the end of their careers. Obviously Anelka at our club. It is a league that is growing. There is a lot of desire to do well out there. There is a lot of money and I really enjoyed my time there.
“My first game there I played in front of 63,000 people. I was playing with players like Anelka. For me one of the big attractions was being able to see places like this. I could potentially have stayed in England or Scotland and played the same teams every week, the same players. But I decided to go down a bit of a different route.
“I would not say it is unique but it is not what a lot of British players do. It is something I have enjoyed. I have seen a lot of the world. And who knows, I might see a bit more.”
O’Dea also insists that his life on the road has made him a better player and person.
He added: “I am definitely mentally stronger and more patient.
“I used to be very hard on foreign players when they came to a club. I used to go out of my way to make sure they were trying to fit in with the way our dressing-room was.
“I wouldn’t do that any more as I was the foreigner in other dressing-rooms and it is difficult.
“The way other people treated me, I would probably be more patient and more welcoming.
“So there are loads of different things I have learnt a lot about myself.
“As a footballer I feel I have developed with new techniques. In the Ukraine, it is a completely different training regime they have.
“I thought it would be difficult to implement but it was very good and made me a much better player.
“It involved constant training and weight-lifting with your legs to make you more powerful.
“Technically, we had maybe six Brazilians in the team who were very good players.
“It was probably the most technical side I have been involved in so I had to improve technically as a player.”