PATRICK Vieira may have advised Arthur Gnohere to make the move to Burnley but he admitted it was his wife who gave him the courage to do it.

And despite only being in the country for a very short time he admitted: "If I could become English I would."

As exclusively revealed in last night's Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Burnley's French defender is friends with the World Cup winner and sought his advice before signing a contract with the Clarets.

But he insisted he would not be at Turf Moor today without the full support of Yolande, his 24-year-old wife and the mother of their two-month-old baby boy, Jordan.

"Yolande is very, very happy to be here and I know I would not have had the courage to come here without her support," he said.

"She was still pregnant when I came over and it was a very important time in our life."

Gnohere, 22, was born in Paris but is well aware of his African roots and he stressed: "Having a family is very important in Africa and I think that having our baby has made me grow up. I don't really go out a lot and party.

"All my family has backed the decision to come to England and I know it was the right thing to do. We already feel very much at home."

Gnohere began his career with Cannes as a 15-year-old and it was there he got to know the Arsenal star. As Vieira moved to Paris St Germain and then Highbury, Gnohere worked his way through the ranks at Cannes before signing for French second division side Caen.

Having had two seasons with the Normandy club he was eager to move on and fulfil his ambition of playing in England.

He was initially on trial with Burnley's first division rivals Portsmouth, having been spotted by their director of football Harry Redknapp, but before he signed to join them he was told by his agent that Burnley were interested. It was then Vieira offered his advice to look north instead of south.

"I know a lot of the French players who have come over here, not just Patrick Vieira," he explained. "I know Laurent Charvet at Manchester City, Louis Saha at Fulham and Thierry Henry at Arsenal and I knew I would love the style of football here.

"Burnley, like Caen, are in the division below the top one but the standard of football is much better here, much better. I love the challenge of the physical side of the game and the fact that the matches are played at such a fast pace.

"It can only be good for my career to experience this style of football. In France it is all a lot slower and I don't think it suits my game as much.

"It is not just quicker it is more aggressive and the players do not waste any time. Also you have to play with your heart here, you really go for it.

"Take the match against Crewe when we were 2-0 down at half time. We kept going, kept attacking and got a draw that was very important.

"That is typical of English football. I remember when I watched Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, they kept going to the end, they were very persistent."

While he is full of admiration for the English game he is believes that the reason his home country is currently both World and European Champions is because so many of his countrymen have done what he has, packed their bags to play football abroad.

"Look at the French side and you can see that nearly all the players play in England, Spain, Italy and Germany," he said. "But I don't blame the English players for wanting to stay here because I think it is the best and most exciting football in Europe."

There has certainly been no shortage of excitement at Turf Moor since he arrived with the Clarets getting off to a flying start to the season, scoring and conceding goals at a great rate.

Gnohere is convinced that his new team-mates have what it takes to mount a sustained challenge for promotion and showed that, while he does not speak much English, he has quickly picked up a bit of "soccer-speak".

"The lads have been great to me since I got here and made me feel very welcome," he said.

"The gaffer has been brilliant and so have Doc (Mick Docherty), Sam (Ellis) and Cliff (Roberts). We have got good players like Blakey (Glen Little), Bally, Cooky and the two Moores. I have not seen a better side than us in the division so far so there is no reason why we can't go up."

Gnohere, who has been christened "Cannonball" by his new colleagues, is determined to make his mark at Burnley and he knows that there is no better way to do that than be involved in a promotion winning campaign.

He admitted: "I really want to play in the Premier League against teams like West Ham, Manchester United and Bolton."

And,of course, he would love the chance to take on Vieira and Henry at Arsenal.

Gnohere has mainly featured as a left back since his arrival and, while he has enjoyed getting forward at every opportunity, he admitted: "My favourite position is as the left-sided centre half because I like marking the opposition striker.

"My favourite players are Marcel Desailly and Jaap Stam because they are very strong and aggressive in the way they play. It is boom, boom if you know what I mean. Someone like Laurent Blanc is a different style of player."

Speaking in the Cafe Claret as the heavens continued to open on Thursday afternoon, Gnohere could have been forgiven for yearning for France but he said: "I played in Normandy and the weather is not very good there. To be honest the weather has been better in Burnley than back home since we got here.

"I like the town and it is close to some lovely countryside and hills. We have our car so we can go out and enjoy it."

Both Gnohere and his wife Yolande are about to start having English lessons after the Lancashire Evening Telegraph found a teacher for them.

Sandra Davies, from Ribchester, took early retirement from the University of Central Lancashire in the summer and is happy to help her new pupils to learn English, although it will be more than just "sick as a parrot" or "over the moon".

While he is looking forward to the language lessons as he settles in England, his main priority at the moment is trying to nail down his place in the side.

He came to the attention of sports fans this week when he appeared on the picture board on the BBC's "A Question of Sport." The round featured people with strange hair-cuts and he was on by virtue of his name being translated as "No-hair".

He was not recognised by the panellists but he hopes that by helping Burnley to promotion this season he will become known and people will even pronounce his name correctly.

And if the Clarets fans start chanting "No-air-ee, No-air-ee", everyone should get to know his name!