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Scott McDonald will be keen to prove a point and reignite his fading World Cup hopes after completing a switch from Celtic to English Championship side Middlesbrough.
The Australian striker ended a highly-successful three-year stint with the Glasgow giants in a reported 3.6 million pound ($A6.45 million) move that was completed just minutes before England’s summer transfer window shut overnight.
McDonald will re-link with ex-Hoops boss Gordon Strachan, becoming the fifth former Celtic player the manager has lured to the Riverside in his push for promotion.
While the 26-year-old is stepping down to second-tier football, he will be eager to prove he can cut it in England after a fruitless stint there from 2000 to 2003.
He made only a handful of starts in short spells with Southampton, Huddersfield Town, Bournemouth and Wimbledon before joining Scottish side Motherwell in 2004.
Since then McDonald has enjoyed plenty of success, scoring 42 goals in 108 games for Motherwell and 50 in 88 for Celtic, but he will be keen to prove he can be just as prolific in England.
The move should also provide more regular football after his match time suffered with Tony Mowbray’s appointment at Celtic.
McDonald looks to be on the outer with Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek after being left out of several squads in the past six months.
The diminutive striker has failed to score in 15 appearances for Australia but still has time to prove to Verbeek he should get a seat on the plane to South Africa.
McDonald had been continually linked with a move south of the border since Mowbray took the reins with Premier League sides Wigan and West Ham also reportedly making enquiries for his services.
The manager insisted McDonald had a future at Celtic Park but was prepared to let him go on Sunday after securing loan deals for Tottenham star Robbie Keane and Fulham’s Diomansy Kamara.
Boro’s six million pound ($A10.66 million) transfer of young winger Adam Johnson to Manchester City freed money to sign McDonald and Aberdeen forward Lee Miller.
McDonald, currently recovering from hernia surgery, will link up with fellow Socceroos Rhys Williams and Brad Jones at the club, which is a former home of Socceroos greats Mark Viduka and Mark Schwarzer.
Boro sit ninth in the second-tier Championship but are still well in the battle to earn promotion back into the top flight.
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