New Dundee signing Stephen Hughes has set his sights on a return to top-flight football after signing a contract until the end of the season.
The 31-year-old only turned out for East Fife against former club Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday but was at Dens Park to put pen to paper on a deal with the Dark Blues.
And the central midfielder is clearly eager to get going as he seeks a place in John Brown’s starting line-up for the top-of-the-table clash with Hamilton this weekend.
“I’m delighted to be up here and back into it again,” he told The Courier.
“It’s a good club and they are doing really well here so hopefully I can help them out between now and the end of the season.
“There were a few offers on the table but this was the one that appealed most to me. I’m just glad to be back full-time.
“I know a good few of the boys already and I’ve played with a few over the years, so I’m sure I’ll settle in pretty quickly.
“And I worked with the manager for many years in my youth team days at Rangers so we know each other pretty well, so he was a big factor in me coming here as well.”
After his arrival at Dens, Hughes will be hoping to prove himself again at a higher level after spending the last few months on a part-time basis with League One side East Fife.
The playmaker started his career as a youngster at Rangers and went on to spend three-and-a-half seasons at Ibrox where he gained league and cup medals along with experience on the European stage.
After a move south to Leicester City in 2005, Hughes returned north to join Motherwell but was back south of the border two years later when he earned a move to Norwich City.
It was there he was handed a Scotland call-up and made an appearance against Japan as a second half substitute.
Spells at MK Dons and a brief return to Motherwell followed before Hughes moved to Aberdeen in January 2012, although he took the decision to move to part-time football with East Fife following his release from Pittodrie in the summer.
He impressed at the Methil club and was offered a new contract by boss Gary Naysmith, although he decided to reject that in favour of a move to the Championship.
But Hughes has no regrets about joining East Fife and feels his latest move has justified the decision to go part-time.
“You can’t be too picky and that was the opportunity I had,” he insisted.
“I went to East Fife and felt I had to maybe prove myself again but I enjoyed my time there and I had no problem doing that (going part-time).
“I’ve played a lot of games for East Fife recently and it’s still a good standard there in League One I was pretty surprised with that.
“To be honest I enjoyed myself at East Fife, but I just felt the chance to get back full-time and with the team doing well and getting the chance to maybe go for promotion, I felt it was another good opportunity for me.
“But promotion is not a formality yet and we’ve still got a lot of games to go, so let’s just see where we end up at the end of the season.”
Hughes, who played 90 minutes for the Fifers at the weekend, added that he feels fit enough to be included in Dundee’s squad this weekend.