New Hearts midfielder Jorge Grant admits the lure of European football was a big factor in his decision to leave England for the first time in his career.
The 27-year-old has signed a three-year deal with the Jambos after joining for an undisclosed fee from Peterborough.
Grant started his career at Nottingham Forest and had spells at Notts County, Luton, Mansfield and Lincoln before joining Posh last summer.
After his move to London Road did not go to plan, the Englishman is relishing his chance to impress in the cinch Premiership and on the European stage, with the Jambos due to enter at the Europa League play-off stage in August.
“It’s something different,” he told Hearts TV. “I feel like the challenge for me was moving away from home and really expressing myself in a league that’s got amazing games I can showcase my talent in.
“The draw of Europe is massive as well. Everybody that joins can tell the quality is going to go up. It’s going to have to for those big games in Europe.
“I could have done the same thing I’ve done in all my career and stayed in League One but I just thought ‘why not? let’s go for it’.”
Grant, who admits his season at Peterborough “did not work out” as he had hoped, intends to excite the Hearts supporters.
“I like to be involved in the game as much as possible, I go and get on the ball as much as possible and try to affect things for the team,” he said.
“I like to bring goals and assists and my set-piece delivery is good as well so hopefully I can bring that to the table.
“I want to be exciting and get the fans off their seat, so hopefully I can do that.”
Hearts manager Robbie Neilson expects his new signing to bring “guile in the final third”.
“I’m really pleased to get Jorge in as we continue to build our squad for a historic season,” he told the club’s website.
“He’s an experienced player who will bring dynamism and guile in the final third of the pitch and I’m really looking forward to working with him.
“The squad is starting to take shape but we’re not finished yet and I hope that in the weeks ahead we can continue to add quality to it.”
In addition to Grant, Hearts have already added Kye Rowles, Lewis Neilson and Alan Forrest this summer, while Alex Cochrane, who was on loan from Brighton last term, has joined on a permanent deal.
