BURNLEY’S Belgian new boy Steven Defour said he was ‘proud’ to be a part of the Premier League after completing his move from Anderlecht yesterday.

The 28-year-old has signed a three-year deal at Turf Moor for a club-record fee of just under £7.5million.

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He becomes the 22nd Belgian to be playing in the Premier League this season and he has set his sights on helping the Clarets secure survival.

Defour arrives at Burnley with a rich pedigree, having won titles in Belgium, with Standard Liege, and Portugal, with Porto, played in the Champions League and won 46 caps for his country.

But a switch to the Premier League presents a new challenge for the midfielder, and it is one he is relishing.

“I hope I can bring my experience to the team and help the club to stay in the Premier League,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to every game. The atmosphere around the league is fantastic and everyone across the world has seen the Premier League, so I am very proud to be a part of that.

“It is a new challenge for me, but I like that.”

The Clarets have had their eye on Defour for most of the summer, but it has proved a difficult deal to get over the line.

Having agreed a fee with Anderlecht it looked like they would lose out on the player, with UAE side Al-Jazira favourites at that point to land his signature.

But they refused to pay the transfer fee up front to the Belgian club, allowing Burnley to step in, and Defour did his research on the Clarets before arriving in England for a medical on Sunday.

“It has been a long few weeks, but I am very happy to be here,” he said.

“When I knew that Burnley was interested, I took some time to look into the club and I saw some interesting stuff.

“I also called a friend of mine who plays at Brentford and he told me Burnley was the best team in the Championship and that it would be a really good choice for me.”

Defour is the midfield reinforcement that Sean Dyche has been looking for since Joey Barton opted to leave the club for Rangers at the start of the summer, but with David Jones leaving Turf Moor for Sheffield Wednesday yesterday there could yet be further additions in that area.

But for now Dyche is happy to have finally landed his man.

“Steven was a target of ours and it’s been a hard deal to do, but we got there in the end,” said the Clarets chief.

“He’s a good player with a depth of experience at international level and also Champions League.

“Steven is new to the Premier League but has a real thirst and desire to be successful in this campaign.”