JOE McKee may have flown in under the radar at the Reebok but the young midfielder has already focused his sights on the Wanderers first team.

Signed seemingly out of the blue by Owen Coyle from his former club Burnley, McKee arrives with a point to prove after struggling to maintain his early promise at Turf Moor.

Coyle had brought him in from Livingston at the tender age of 16 but his departure and an uneasy relationship with his two successors – Brian Laws and Eddie Howe – left him out of contract this summer and looking for a new club.

That the Wanderers boss was willing to offer him another chance shows the faith he has in the Scotland youth international – and now McKee is aiming to show how right he was to offer him a second chance.

“I think at first it’s a case of getting my foot in the door,” he said.

“I’ll be going with John Henry and the reserve boys so then it’s just up to me, like any of the younger boys.

“If you get your head down and work hard then the gaffer will give you a chance.

“I’d like to think that happens at any club. I know the manager here and know he did it at Burnley.

“So that added to the attraction of coming here – knowing I’ll get a chance to play and if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.”

Coyle paid out £100,000 for a 16-year-old McKee in 2009 when Livingston were placed into administration.

But the youngster admits the manager’s high profile departure across Lancashire took its toll on his early promise.

“I got in the youth team, played there every week, and then got in the reserves and played five or six games and did quite well,” he explained.

“Then the change in manager happened and it was back down to the youth team for a year and a half. Another manager came in and never really took any notice, so it just kind of fizzled out after a right good start to my Burnley career. But that’s what happens sometimes. I want to come here and kick-start it again.”

Even though McKee failed to make the first team grade at Burnley, his appetite was whetted at the start of last season when he was loaned out to St Mirren to get a brief taste of the big time.

Now the playmaker – who can play right across the midfield – wants more of the same.

“It was maybe the first time I had really had first team experience and I made my debut against Celtic when I was 18,” he said.

“I played against Hearts too and was on the bench at Ibrox in front of 52,000, so all that was great experience for me.

“I supported Celtic as a boy so that was the ultimate for me, especially at 18.

“I’d literally just signed a few days before and I wasn’t expecting to get on because I hadn’t done much training, but to get on with 15 to 20 minutes to go was the highlight of my career until now.

“Now I just want to get my head down and kick on. This is a really big opportunity for me.”