New Ross County goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann aborted his plans to travel to France on Stoke City’s pre-season training camp when the Staggies came calling and the Austrian says he has no intention of warming the bench at Victoria Park.
Bachmann last week joined County on a six-month loan deal from the English Premier League side. However, the 21-year-old revealed the Highlanders made their move in the nick of time.
After being summoned by City manager Mark Hughes just before the coach was about to depart for Evian last Friday, Bachmann was quickly persuaded to make a drastic change to his plans.
Instead of travelling to France, Bachmann headed north to Dingwall before playing the second half of County’s 2-0 friendly defeat by Dutch Eredivisie side NEC Nijmegen the following day.
Bachmann has been brought in to compete with former Partick Thistle goalkeeper Scott Fox for the number one jersey and is determined to get the nod from manager Jim McIntyre for County’s Premiership opener against champions Celtic at Parkhead tomorrow.
Bachmann said: “It happened very quickly. I got the call on Friday afternoon when I was on the coach, ready to go to France with Stoke. It happened very quickly and I’m happy to be here.
“The manager, Mark Hughes, called me into his office just before we left and just said to me that it’s a very good opportunity for me, because it’s top-level football. It’s a very good standard and if I do well here who knows what could happen.
“I’m not here to sit on the bench – I’m here to play. There’s competition between me and Scott and I’m looking to start.
“It’s a nice little stadium and I like the countryside. The squad looks really good and we had a game against really tough opponents on Saturday.
“I’ve seen the odd Scottish game and I’ve got to know the teams. I knew of Ross County but I just didn’t know where it was. From what I’ve heard it’s a good standard and I’m looking forward to getting started.
“Everyone is looking forward to Celtic. Hopefully we get something from that.”
Bachmann has been with Stoke since joining from Austria Vienna in 2011 but has yet to make a first-team appearance for the Potters, spending last season on loan with English Conference side Wrexham.