Kevin Wimmer was thrilled to be involved in a Premier League title chase during his first season in English football.

The 23-year-old centre-half joined us from German side 1. FC Köln last summer and played 21 times in all competitions, including a crucial 10-game spell in the Premier League between January and the start of April that saw us put real pressure on eventual champions Leicester City at the top of the table.

Ultimately we ended up slipping to third place but Kevin, who is gearing up for this summer’s Euro 2016 finals with Austria, is already licking his lips at the prospect of what’s to come in 2016-17 after such an enthralling campaign.

“It’s true, when you think now that we nearly won the title, for me personally in my first year in England, it’s unbelievable,” he said.

“I knew Tottenham Hotspur as a club that fights for the top four – this was also our target this season and we did well. Then we also had the chance to win the title – in the end we were very close but I think we’ll just get stronger out of this and hopefully next season we can do a little bit better.

“When I arrived here last summer I felt very good and very comfortable. I was welcomed by everybody, by the players and the staff as well. I felt very good from the beginning and I think we have done very well this season. I’ve enjoyed it a lot here and I’m already looking forward to next year.”

Frequently operating alongside fellow new recruit Toby Alderweireld, Kevin also featured heavily in our run to the last 16 of the Europa League in 2015-16. He admitted the campaign was gruelling at times, but he believes the hard work will be worth it in the long-run.

“It started from the pre-season – it was very hard, very tough and maybe the first few games of the season were not that great but then we had a very good run,” he said, referring to our club record-setting 14-game unbeaten spell on the domestic scene.

“After that we played a lot of games but we played very well. Also I think we did well in the Europa League and I think overall we can be happy with most of our performances this season. It was a long season, a hard and very tough one, but we played well and we’re looking forward to next year now.”