Fulham have this afternoon confirmed the deal to sign midfielder Tom Cairney from Blackburn Rovers on an initial four-year contract.

The 24 year-old has signed a deal that will keep him at Craven Cottage until the summer of 2019 and Fulham have an option to extend that by an additional year. Reports from Lancashire suggest that the fee could rise to around £3.5m, depending on whether Kit Symons’ side achieve promotion this season.

Cairney has top flight experience from his time with Hull City having come through the Leeds United academy set-up, but recently caught the eye of a number of Championship sides after a string of impressive performances for Blackburn. He became a popular member of the Ewood Park set-up following a successful loan spell from Hull, winning the club’s player of the year award last year. Cairney made 85 appearances for Rovers, scoring nine goals.

The Scottish youth international told Fulham’s official website:

I’m delighted. Now I’m just so looking forward to getting started and meeting the boys. The hard work starts now because it’s pre-season but I can’t wait to get back here, get settled and get in amongst it.

For most of my life Fulham have been a Premier League club and have only been out of it for a year. They’ve had some great players over the years and it’s a very attractive club to come to. Every player wants to play in the Premier League and if I can do that with Fulham that would be fantastic.