Aberdeen defender Scott McKenna wants to make the move to England when he knows he will not be a bit-part player.
McKenna was the subject of intense interest from English Championship side Hull City in January, with the Dons turning down four bids from the Tigers last month.
Both McKenna and his manager Derek McInnes feel he needs to get at least 100 games under his belt at Pittodrie before he entertains going elsewhere.
Despite having ambitions of playing south of the border, McKenna still has three-and-a-half years on his contract with Aberdeen and is no hurry to jump ship.
He said: “The manager pulled me over when we were in Dubai and said there had been an offer but it was nowhere near what they wanted. Unless there was an offer that was over the top then I was going nowhere so right from the start I knew I was going to be an Aberdeen player.
“I’ve only played 20 games in the top team here so I’m in no hurry to go anywhere and, while it’s nice to know other clubs are interested, I just have to keep my feet on the ground. The aim is to just keep doing what I’m doing and concentrate on keeping getting better and better at Aberdeen.
“I think in the long-term everyone is hopeful that they’ll get down south at some point and play in the Championship or the Premiership. But I want that to be when the time is right. I want to feel that when I go down to a club that I’ll be ready to play in the first team hopefully after 100 to 150 games at Aberdeen. I don’t want to go down south and be someone that sits about as a squad player left out of the starting line-up.
“I’ve been sitting about here long enough so I don’t want to be coming up here after a couple of years when I’ve been forgotten about really. Hopefully I can go down there eventually and make a name for myself in England.”
McKenna admits he took some stick from friends over the numbers being banded about for him and he spoke briefly with his father, although there was little conversation to be had as no bid had been accepted.
Just days before the transfer window shut, he uncorked his memorable 40-yard effort against Kilmarnock – with an unwitting assist from Killie veteran Kris Boyd.
McKenna said: “I don’t know where that came from. I just took a touch and it opened up for me so I just thought I would hit it as hard as I could. Luckily it hit the back of the net but Kris Boyd was running just behind me shouting ‘shoot’ so I did.
“A couple of minutes later he said ‘I wish I hadn’t said that big man’ so we had a bit of a laugh about it. I did hit one like that in training one time but nothing to suggest I would do it in an actual game.”
