Thomson has battled back from two serious knee injuries

Former Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson has said the lure of playing in the Premier League was key to his move to Championship club Middlesbrough.

The 25-year-old signed a four-year deal with Boro on Thursday after Rangers accepted a £2m bid for the player.

And, despite swapping the Champions League for the English second tier, Thomson is ready for a fresh challenge.

"My ambition is to play in the Premier League and I think I can do that with Middlesbrough," he said.

"It's a new challenge and a fresh start for me.

"The Rangers fans were great to me and I'll never forget my three-and-a-half years there.

The Rangers fans were great to me and I'll never forget my three-and-a-half years there. Middlesbrough midfielder Kevin Thomson

"I won back-to-back titles, we reached the Uefa Cup final and we picked up a couple of cups along the way too, so it was a successful time.

"Now I'm ready to take a new step in my career."

Thomson joins a sizeable Scottish contingent on Teesside and added that having so many compatriots at the club was another factor in his signing.

"When you move you have to look at the whole package because you're moving to a new club and you're moving your family too," he told Boro's official website.

"But there are six or seven Scots down here already and there are so many of them who I know, while the manager knows pretty much what I'm all about.

"All that, together with the challenge of helping the club win promotion, meant the whole package felt right."

The twice-capped Scot is joining up with manager Gordon Strachan for a second time, having worked briefly under the former Celtic boss as a teenager at Coventry City.

And the former Hibernian skipper revealed that he could have moved to Celtic, then under Strachan, rather than Rangers.

"I had an opportunity to go to Celtic before I went to Rangers, but it never happened," he said.

"I obviously played against Gordon's sides on numerous occasions and he was hugely competitive in a situation where second best is not good enough.

"I know how he likes the game to be played, he likes his teams to pass the ball and I'm sure he'll certainly bring the best out of me."

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