Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin enthuses about 'quality' of former Barcelona player David Babunski

David Babunski spent his youth training with Barcelona, rubbing shoulders with Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Now Jim Goodwin believes the midfielder can bring quality to Dundee United’s team.

Babunski is the latest of United’s new recruits as Goodwin builds his squad for their return to Premiership action. The manager gave the 30-year-old his debut against Stenhousemuir on Tuesday, and revealed that he had tried to bring him to Scotland years earlier.

“I’ve known about David for about three years now,” he said. “I’ve built up a network of contacts in Eastern Europe and obviously he’s been playing in the Hungarian league.

“With my previous club we did a lot of business there with Bojan Miovski and Ylber Ramadani.

“He’s one that we wanted to get to Aberdeen as well but we just couldn’t make a deal happen at the time.

“I’m delighted that the opportunity came for us this summer.

“He just oozes quality in the middle of the pitch. Very comfortable in possession and always looking to play forward, which is what you want from a midfielder.”

Babuski admits he was disappointed when the chance to move to Aberdeen fell through but said he is delighted to have finally managed to secure a switch to the Premiership.

“I have been waiting for an opportunity like this and I’m very happy that it finally happened,” he said.

“I did some research with some teammates from the national team who have been here, and from football in the UK in general.

“I know some things that I can expect and I’m looking forward to experiencing them.

“Bojan Miovski was all positive. He’s been performing very well here since arriving two seasons ago so I was in contact with him. He told me all the best about Scottish football.

“From the moment I arrived, I felt how big this club is and the expectations are very high.

“We want to meet these expectations with ambition, with hard work and hopefully we can do something special this season and fight for the top positions in the table.”

Babunski has spent recent years playing in Hungary and Romania, and had a spell in Japan where he played under former Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou at Yokohama F Marinos.

His formative years were at Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, where he received his football education and was also able to watch and learn from some of the finest players of the 21st century.

“I had ten years from the age of 12 to 22, right up until the B team,” he said. “I also had the opportunity to train with the first team because they give that chance to train and take part in games with them.

“It was a privilege for me to be involved with what I think is the best club in Europe.

“To be able to train with those players, see how they think on the pitch, the kind of decisions that they make, it allowed me to improve my own game a lot and learn a lot from them.

“Expect nothing less than victory in every single game, that is how I was taught and raised at Barcelona, to be very ambitious. I hope I can add that kind of value to this club as well.”