Grella made just a few cameo appearances for new club Blackburn Rovers after arriving from Serie A side Torino and immediately suffering a string of injury problems.

Now though the Aussie plans to ensure he's in top condition to make a real impact this season to show his true colours to fans and repay boss Sam Allardyce's belief in him.

"You are looking at two nations with different footballing concepts," Grella said. "The English league is the quickest and most physical league in the world and you have to adapt your body to meet those demands.

"There are no easy countries, whether it's Spain, England or Italy. You are playing against the best players in the world every week."

He added: "I've been working hard to get myself as fit as I can be.

"I even cut my holidays about 10 days short and had just a short break with my family so I could put in extra preparation work and hopefully it will pay off."