BLACKBURN Rovers' latest signing Dominic Matteo today underlined his determination to re-establish himself in the Premiership following a nightmare 12 months at Leeds United.

After weeks of frenzied speculation, Matteo finally became a Rovers player yesterday when he put pen to paper on a three-year deal, as we revealed in our later editions last night.

And the 30-year-old defender has wasted no time in setting his sights on winning a place in Graeme Souness's starting eleven for the opening game of the season against West Bromwich Albion as he seeks to bury the memories of Leeds' painful relegation from the top-flight.

"I just want to come here and prove myself again. That's my goal," said Matteo, who has joined Rovers on a free transfer.

"I had four good years at Leeds and really enjoyed my time there but I'm at Blackburn now and I want to come here, try and work hard, and get into the team.

"In any new job or any new place you go to work, you can't expect to just walk straight in.

"I certainly don't expect that at Blackburn because there's a group of good players here who have earned the right to play.

"So I just want to earn the right to get into the team. That's all I'm thinking about at the moment."

Matteo sees his move to Blackburn as the chance to make a fresh start following all the trauma of the last 12 months at Elland Road.

The former Liverpool star, who joined United in a £4.75 million deal four years ago, insists he enjoyed his time with the Yorkshire club.

But after all the upheaval of relegation and the financial implications that go with it, he felt he had to quit the fallen giants once he knew of Rovers' interest.

"It was a bit of a rollercoaster at Leeds to be honest," said Matteo.

"We had two good years and two not so good years and it obviously finished with relegation.

"It's disappointing to leave a club on that note and I had such a close relationship with the fans up there that it was a tough call but I feel as though I've done the best thing for the club by leaving.

"A lot of people won't agree with that but I feel as though I've done the best thing for them.

"They can start again now. Some of the young lads coming through are good players and they've got a chance.

"It was a bit of a wrench to leave but I wanted to stay in the Premiership. It's the best league to play in so as far as I was concerned, it was the only thing to do, really."

Once it became clear that Matteo would be leaving, several clubs expressed a firm interest in the Leeds skipper.

But Rovers soon emerged as his preferred choice and the opportunity to link up with Graeme Souness again, his former manager at Liverpool, was a decisive factor.

"I spoke to a few managers and my agent spoke to a few different clubs," said the Scottish international.

"But I was impressed with what the manager here said and I like him because we've worked together before.

"It was important for me to make the right move and I think I've done that in coming here.

"There's a good squad of players here and I'm sure if everyone is on their game next season then we can have a good year."

It was Souness, in fact, who gave a young Matteo his debut at Liverpool and the versatile defender admits he will always be grateful for that.

"When you're a young kid you just want a game and I wasn't expecting it so it came a bit out of the blue," said Matteo.

"But he gave me my first start and I'm very thankful for that.

"When I was growing up, Graeme Souness was one of the best players about so I'm just glad to be coming here and working under him again."

Matteo also recognised several other friendly faces at training yesterday, having been a team-mate of Paul Dickov and Barry Ferguson with Scotland and David Thompson at Liverpool.

Their presence in the squad -- Dickov has just signed from Leicester and Ferguson and Thompson are back after injury -- leads Matteo to think Rovers could be in for a better season than the one they've just had.

"It's always hard to predict where you're going to finish," added the Scot.

"I'm sure the lads will want to do better than they did last season and I'm hoping that as well.

"The manager's brought in three new players and we should have a few people back from injury, too."

Dominic's determined