Samuel Oji - I'm happy to be here

Limerick FC have confirmed the signing of central defender Samuel Oji until the end of the season, with the 27-year-old hopeful that it can become a long-term stay.

The London native is a former Arsenal youngster who while on the books of Birmingham City spent loan spells at a number of different English clubs, with Swedish side Ljungskile SK also among his list of previous employers.

Most recently, Oji was at English Conference side Tamworth, who he says gave him a good platform to rebuild his career on after knee injuries, and he is looking forward to the challenge awaiting him with the Superblues.

“I’m very happy to be here and getting ready for a new experience,” Samuel said, “and I’m ready to go with gusto.

“I’ve settled in well. The lads have been really welcoming. I knew Stephen Bradley from my time with him at Arsenal. To be fair, I was always told that the Irish are nice people, and everyone has welcomed me.

“The season with Tamworth finished in the last week of April and we had a sit-down with the manager in regards to the next season.

“But something I wanted to do was to try to push onto a better standard or a higher standard where I was prior to being injured.

“Having been out for a long time, Tamworth was a good platform to play on. The management there were really good and the players were top notch, so it helped me to get back playing full-time.”
 

Speaking on moving to Ireland, Oji added: “Once I spoke to the Gaffer (Stuart Taylor) and I looked at the quality and the calibre of the players that were here, it was something that I was interested in doing.
 

“It happened pretty quickly, really. I spoke to him on the Friday and was over on the Monday, so it happened overnight as such.”
 

Explaining how it all came about, Oji said: “I was actually speaking to a friend of mine who plays up in Scotland called Andrew Barrowman. He knows Stuart and Malky (Thomson), and he put me on to Stuart because he knew that they were looking for a defender. It was by mutual acquaintance, really.”
 

Asked if he was put off by the League of Ireland season finishing in October, Samuel admitted: “It was something that I had to look at.
 

“But when I weighed up the options I thought it was a better standard than potentially going back and playing in the Conference again.
 

“Depending on how I do and if I play to the standard that I know I can then maybe it will become a long-term thing rather than a short-term stay.”
 

Oji will wear squad No.24 and made his full debut in Saturday’s game at Sligo Rovers.