Dominic Samuel hopes breaking out of his comfort zone can bring out his best form for Ross County.
English forward Samuel has signed a two-year deal with the Staggies, after leaving English League One side Gillingham at the end of last season.
Samuel has spent his entire career in England thus far, starting his career with Reading where he made his debut in the English Premier League, before going on to spend three years with Blackburn Rovers prior to joining the Gills last summer.
In making the switch to Scotland, London-born Samuel feels his new surroundings can help him to prosper for Malky Mackay’s side.
Samuel said: “I can stay focused, I’m far away from my family and friends. That’s football, if you want to do your job as best you can sometimes you’ve just got to put that behind you.
“Being up here, far away from everyone else, helps me to remain focused and do what I need to do.
“With football there can sometimes be a lot of distraction, but you’re here to do a job. You just have to get on with it.
“The coaching staff and everyone here have made me feel so welcome, especially coming all the way from London.
“They speak good football, they have been there and done it as well.
“The main thing was making me feel at home. The squad here has got everything here that a player needs, so there are no excuses.”
Samuel is relishing the prospect of testing himself against some of Scottish football’s strongest teams, with the 27-year-old confident of bringing goals to County’s side having netted six times in 26 appearances during an injury-hit campaign with Gillingham last year.
He added: “It’s different for me coming up from England, but I think it’s the right time to play against the teams in this league.
“I can test myself against teams that are in Europe. The manager and coaches made it so much easier for me coming up this way when I spoke to them.
“The competition in this league is really good and that’s something that I need.
“I just want to get as many goals as I can. I don’t like to look too far ahead, I always like to take each game as it comes.
“I think it’s just mainly about scoring goals and staying fit. The world is your oyster, when you work hard every day you don’t know where the end goal will be.
“I don’t personally like to look too far ahead. I like to keep it short and sweet, but I mainly just want to get goals under my belt and stay fit, and do what the manager asks.”
Samuel was part of a Blackburn side which won promotion from League One in 2018, before he spent a further two years in the Championship.
The 6ft 2in forward credits vastly experienced forward Danny Graham with being a major influence on his career, adding: “Blackburn was a good experience for me. I learned a lot there, and hopefully I can show what I got taught here.
“It was a great experience playing for a club like that.
“I played with Danny Graham at Blackburn and he’s such an experienced striker.
“He has been in the game for a long time and he taught me quite a lot – especially when I was growing up in my three years at Blackburn.
“I would say he was one of my main influences. I have a few friends from Reading that I have spoken to, like Mikele Leigertwood who is the Antigua coach now. There was Jobi McAnuff and Gareth McLeary as well.
“The closest one was Danny Graham who was always asking how I was getting on, things I could do better at. He has been top notch with me.”
