Dundee’s new striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui will do his best to make fans forget all about Kane Hemmings.
While stressing that he shouldn’t be compared too closely to the now Oxford United man, the new Dark Blue is nevertheless confident he can bang in the goals for the Dens men to help ease the pain of Hemmings’ exit.
The 23-year-old, who has signed a three-year deal, said: “I think I can help things because I want to show the fans that I’m here for them after Kane moved on.
“We are different players, obviously, because I bring other qualities to the team and will be concentrating on myself.
“However, I can score goals and that’s what I have done throughout my career.
“I am also confident I can play at this level, although I haven’t set myself any targets.
“Last season was very good for me at Dunfermline in terms of scoring but I just want to get a place in the Dundee team first and then take things from there.
“I am delighted to be at Dundee and the boys have been good to me in training since I came in, which always helps going to a new club.
“So I can’t wait to play.
“I just want the season to get started and try to play every week.”
El Bakhtaoui spent last weekend with Blackburn Rovers and even played a trial match for them.
However, he believes he made a good move by heading back up the road to Scotland.
“It’s the best decision for me to come to Dens,” he said.
“To be honest, I’m not that disappointed the move to Blackburn didn’t come off.
“It was good going there on trial after being invited by the manager (Owen Coyle)
“I said ‘why not?’ So I went but I’ve no regrets it didn’t happen.
“I played in a game there but it’s more about the level of football.
“I didn’t think I was ready to come in and play in the Championship straight away in England.
“Still, it has been good to see what the level what was like because it was another experience for me.
“Now I’m looking forward to scoring my first goal for Dundee and showing the supporters and everyone at the club what I’m capable of.”
El Bakhtaoui had kind words to say about his former club Dunfermline, whom he was close to re-joining.
He added: “It was a difficult decision for me to leave.
“I had been loved there by the fans and everyone at the club.
“I would like to thank (former manager) Jim Jefferies who signed me, all the staff and (current boss) Allan Johnston for giving me the confidence.
“The fans were great with me and that was one of the reasons I felt so good about myself during my time there.
“I hope to recreate the rapport I had with the fans at Dunfermline here at Dundee.
“So it is up to me to show everyone I can do it at this level.
“I’m ready to go so it’s up to the manager now to decide if I play.”
Pars boss Johnston insists Dunfermline pushed the boat out El Bakhtaoui and revealed the French-Moroccan was set to return to East End Park before a late swoop by Dundee.
Dunfermline assembled their most lucrative possible package and never gave up hope of tempting the player back to Fife.
Earlier this week Johnston was sure he had succeeded, only for the Dens side to snap him up.
Johnston rued: “We had hoped to keep hold of Faiss so we were really disappointed to lose out on that one.
“Right up until the last minute I thought there was a great chance of us getting him, but Dundee came in at the death and pipped us to the post.
“We did our very best to get him back on board.
“We made him the best offer we possibly could have and if Dundee had not come in when they did then I believe Faiss would be a Dunfermline player again.
“He was a massive player for us last season and we wish him well because he gave everything for this club last year.
“However, we need to move on and hopefully we can bring in another striker capable of scoring goals this year.”
Despite being untested at top-flight level, Johnston firmly believes El Bakhtaoui can handle the step up and help to fill the void left by Hemmings.
Johnston, speaking as the Pars unveiled the League One championship flag which will be unfurled against Forfar tomorrow, added: “I think he’ll do really well at Dundee.
“Faiss is a very talented player and has plenty of ambition and quality – that’s the reason why we were so desperate to keep him.”
