MICKY Mellon could be the man to keep the season alive for two clubs following his big-money move to Burnley.

The £350,000 the Clarets paid Tranmere Rovers for the central midfield player will keep the wolf away from the door at Prenton Park.

And as the latest piece in Burnley's jigsaw, Mellon should have a major role to play in what promises to be a New Year revival at Turf Moor.

"The manager (John Aldridge) approached me on Thursday afternoon and told me that I had to be sold to keep the club afloat so that was basically it.

"I had no qualms at all about coming to a bigger club. I am bursting to get on with the action. I have got all the financial stuff out of the way and just want to concentrate on my football," said Mellon, who was set to make his Clarets' debut at Bristol Rovers today.

The 26-year-old former Blackpool player became, along with Paul Barnes, the joint second most expensive player in Burnley's history when he signed a two-and-a-half-year deal yesterday.

And after training with his new team-mates for the first time he made it clear that the sudden move was very much to his liking. There's only a couple of clubs I would have left the First Division for and one of them was Burnley," Mellon explained. "Burnley is a big club with a fantastic manager and a great reputation. He's going to attract good players to this club which is good enough for me and I'm sure we are going to go from strength to strength.

"I've played in the north-west and know about the manager's credentials and he knows how to get teams out of this division.

"I know Burnley is a big club and that's all that concerned me."

Mellon joins the Clarets with a name for bagging spectacular goals.

He has never been a prolific scorer but he is keen to keep chipping in and any input from midfield will be welcomed by a Burnley side notoriously goal-shy behind the front two. At Blackpool I was given a licence to get forward and the manager has given me a licence to do the same here so I would hope to do that (score goals) here as well.

"Scoring goals has got be a big part of a midfielder's job and if I can start banging in the goals for Burnley I will be more than happy," he added.

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