DAN NEIL believes Rangers fit everything he was looking for in a club as the midfielder signed a three-year contract at Ibrox.
The 24-year-old says the weight and expectation to win every week is something which drives him as a player, and now he can’t wait to get started.
In an exclusive first interview for RangersTV, he said: “I am absolutely delighted; it is a new chapter for myself. I am excited to be signing for Rangers, and I am really looking forward to what is ahead.
“I was looking for certain characteristics at football clubs in what I wanted and what drives me as a footballer and person, and I think Rangers fit all the criteria.
“As a character and person, that really drives me to put 110 per cent in day in and day out, and I need that in my career and in my life, so I am really looking forward to getting started and feeling that pressure.”
Neil revealed he spoke to former teammate Jermain Defoe, as well as others, as he made his decision. He continued: “I spoke to Jermain Defoe, Graeme Murty, and Ross Stewart is from Glasgow, so I spoke to him about the area.
“They all spoke lovely of the club and the area, and it pretty much made my mind up.
Coming through at Sunderland Academy to captain his boyhood team in a play-off final at Wembley to gain promotion to the English Premier League, Neil already has a lot of experience behind him.
On his journey so far, he added: “I grew up at Sunderland, had some amazing times there, and achieved some unbelievable things. I really enjoyed my 18 years at the club.
“It was unbelievable to captain Sunderland and to be given that honour early on in my career.
“There was a lot of hope we would get promoted that year and to take the armband and spearhead it was an amazing honour.
“I'm sure there are different challenges to it here, but I'd like to think that what I have experienced over the few years of my career so far that it is going to put me in good stead to help not just myself deal with the expectation but help my teammates as well and I am really looking forward to it.”
On his first impressions of Ibrox, Neil continued: “It is amazing. I came here a few months ago, and I had a little tour, and now I've come back and seen the place again; it has given us another bit of excitement and motivation to get started.
“I knew it was a lovely stadium, a big stadium before, but coming up and seeing the history inside the place and how big it is, is different. Hearing the atmosphere on telly, it is an amazing football stadium, and I'm looking forward to playing there.”
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