Ross County defender Erik Cikos is convinced the Staggies can provide him with a passport back into the Slovakia national squad and a meeting with Gordon Strachan’s Scotland.
The 27-year-old full back became one of Jim McIntyre’s five summer signings when he rejoined the team he shone for under former manager Derek Adams from January to May 2014.
Cikos, who helped County finish seventh in the league that year, earned two Slovakia caps on the strength of those performances, facing Montenegro and Russia that summer.
But the Bratislava-born defender knows he has work to do having found himself out of football for six months this year.
Having decided to leave previous club Slovan Bratislava, the former Wisla Kracow man’s talks with two teams in Poland broke down just before the January transfer window closed.
Cikos – capped at every level for his country – is convinced a return to Scotland can again thrust him into the international limelight.
He said: “The chance to recapture my place in the national team, without a doubt, is the biggest reason I wanted to come back to Scotland.
“It is something I feel I can achieve and I’m determined to do it.
“If I can do well, and help the club do well, in Scotland’s top league, it will be a big opportunity to break back into the national team.
“There is a much bigger chance of me doing that by playing in Scotland than in Slovakia. It will not be easy because Slovakia are doing much better than in years before. There is a lot of young talent coming through into the national side, as you saw at Euro 2016.
“Those players, almost to a man, are playing in the big leagues around Europe and that’s why this move is important to me. It is much better to play abroad because the Slovakian league is not good enough. The stadiums are old and the standard is poor at the moment.
“People are not going to the stadiums because of that.
“So for me to get the chance to play abroad again and in Scotland’s top league, is a terrific opportunity.”
Cikos is well aware success on the international front might well propel him up against World Cup qualifying rivals Scotland.
He said: “If I can win back my place, Scotland are one of Slovakia’s World Cup qualifying opponents. I’m sure the manager and the Scottish players here will let me know how they feel about it. But first I know I have to work hard and succeed here. Everything else follows from that.
“As a country, though, we are hopeful we can qualify for another major finals.”
County’s interest in bringing him back to Dingwall came as a surprise to Cikos who added: “I found myself without a club for six months. My last game was in December.
“The reason was that in January, I had two or three opportunities to move to Poland but I decided not to go because the terms of the contracts I was offered weren’t good.
“I didn’t have any alternatives at the time, so once the January transfer window closed I could only train with a Slovakian club.
“Then in May, my agent called me and said there was an option to go back to Ross County. I was surprised, but very happy. I went for a two-week trial because the manager wanted to see what condition I was in having not played for so long.
“I trained really hard and tried my best to impress, thankfully, he wanted to take me in.
“It was an easy decision to come because we had a really good time in my previous spell in Scotland. We finished seventh in the league, against a lot of expectations.
“But as the previous manager Derek Adams, has moved on I didn’t expect to get the chance to return again, so I’m delighted.
“My friend Filip Kiss played for both managers and he said good things about Jim McIntyre and Billy Dodds.
“He said everything was new and better than before and everything about the club in terms of facilities, as well as the people has impressed me.”
County yesterday completed their first full workouts of the Hungary tour in the complex on the outskirts of Budapest before tonight’s match against Hungarian top flight side Paksi FC.
