New signing Gime Touré was a reluctant interviewee at Brunton Park on Monday afternoon, as he expressed concern over his understanding of English, but we think you’ll agree that he was superb, with his excitement about the challenge ahead clear for all to see.
“I’m very excited to be here and I hope it’s going to be a good season,” he said. “I spoke with Jason Kennedy and Gary Liddle and they both convinced me to sign here.
“After that I spoke with the manager and I knew that I really wanted to sign here. All I’ve heard is very good things about the club.”
Billed as a strong, powerful and attack-minded forward, he told us: “I’m a skilful player, I’m good with my feet and hopefully I can score some beautiful goals. I like to shoot and take players on when I play football.
“I’m just really pleased to have a deal sorted because the situation at the moment is very hard. Since the season finished at Hartlepool I haven’t been able to train with a team, or play anywhere, and I’ve missed football very much.
“The good thing is that I feel ready and I will do my best for this club.”
And the move to join the Blues gives the 26-year-old his first chance to make an impact in the Football League.
“This is going to be my first time playing at this level,” he commented. “I know I can play in this league and I just need to show everybody what I can do.
“I’ve learned a lot with the clubs I’ve been at so far and my last season with Hartlepool was my best season. I think I need to keep doing what I did with them and hopefully I’ll do the same things now that I’m here in the league.
“Honestly, it’s been very hard for me to leave Hartlepool. I felt very comfortable when I was there and the fans gave me a lot of love. That gave me confidence, so it was a hard decision to make.”
With the early stages of his career being with some fantastic clubs in France, he confirmed: “When I was growing up in France I always wanted to play in England.
“I wanted to play in the Premier League, and one day I will. Coming to a club like this is where I can start to make my name, and I will do my best.
“I’m just very excited and I want to play football and show the people what I can do. I want to do something very big with the team and be part of something good with the team.”
The final question was one manager Chris Beech asked us to ask on his behalf – how many goals are you going to score this season?
“I don’t know!” he replied. “Honestly I don’t know, but I can say that hopefully it will be more than ten. So, yeah, we’ll see.”
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