TOM Glover was bombarded with messages from Riley McGree as he finalised his switch to Middlesbrough - and also spoke to Brad Jones, who only had good things to say about Boro.

Australian Olympian Glover has put pen to paper on a three-year deal with Boro and says his aim is to get the club "back in the big time", where he says they belong.

Former Tottenham keeper Glover was a free agent after leaving Melbourne City and says he learnt of Boro's interest earlier this summer before he linked up with the Australia squad for a friendly against Argentina.

Boro's McGree was part of that squad and Glover says he's been inundated with messages from the midfielder in recent weeks.

"We're taking over," laughed Glover, who joined Boro alongside fellow Aussie Sammy Silvera.

"I've known Riley for years. I was starting to think he didn't have many mates here because he was messaging me every day asking me when I was coming.

"I'm good mates with Riley and I know Sammy from playing against him. He put one past me in the Grand Final which I wasn't too happy about, but he's a good lad."

He added: "Brad Jones was here for many years and obviously the big one was Schwarzer. I actually spoke to Brad last week and he was giving me all the places to stay and what to do, so I had a good chat with Brad and he told me all about the club and didn't have one bad word to say."

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Glover made more than 100 appearances for Melbourne City, winning three successive Premiership titles. City were desperate to keep him this summer but he made it clear he wanted a move back to Europe.

"It's great, it's been a long time coming," he told the club website after finalising his Boro switch.

"It's been a few weeks of communication. I'm just really happy and buzzing to be here. I got informed just before I went to the national team camp, they let me be part of that camp and said we'd have communication after that. I got back home from China, started talking to Kieran (Scott) and spoke to Fetts (Alan Fettis, Boro goalkeeper coach) and it was a pretty easy decision.

"The main reason I went back to Australia was to play games, get more experience and win titles. That's what I did. I hope to bring that here to Middlesbrough as well.

"For me this is a Premier League club in the Championship and ultimately my goal is to get back into the Premier League with this club. That's my goal, it's a pretty big goal of mine, to see this club back in the big time."

Glover - alongside fellow new signing Silvera - has now linked up with his new teammates in Portugal, but only after an exhausting couple of days of travelling.

He explained: "Australia isn't down the road. I flew in (to the UK) at 9am, a 24-hour flight, straight to the medical, did all that stuff, then was straight out to Portugal and landed at 11am. It was about a 36-hour travel day but it's good, I'm here now which is the main thing."