ZADKOVICH: THE FIRST INTERVIEW
Ruben Zadkovich is ready for another crack at English football - and says he wants to be part of a bright future at Derby County.
The versatile Australian will join Derby on a two-year deal this summer as a free agent having left his hometown team Sydney FC.
But his football education took in a scholarship at Queens Park Rangers and an 18-month spell at Notts County as a teenager.
Things didn't work out at Meadow Lane, though two years down the line he is back in England a more grown up figure and ready to prove himself again.
"I was very young then, and very inexperienced, but things have changed," he revealed in his first interview with RamsWorld - to be screened later this morning.
"Since then I have played a lot of international football with my age group, and I've been called up to the national side, so I'm ready to play.
"There are points to prove, especially to some peopole, but I love a challenge and I'm ready for that."
Playing regular football in England has always been a target of the 21-year-old and when his contract expired with Sydney last month, it was time to look back here once again.
Other clubs were interested in Zadkovich but a spell training with Derby was enough to convince him that Pride Park was the place to be.
"This is such a massive club and we can only expect bigger and better things," he said.
"Things haven't gone the way the club wanted this season but everyone is looking to the future and I want to be a part of that.
"Now the team is relegated they can only start building as there is no point dwelling on the past - what has happened has happened.
"This is a massive club with great potential and I can only see them going back to the Premier League, which has got to be the goal."
Zadkovich, who promises "heart and attitude" in a Derby shirt, said playing for Sydney in Australia's A-League has been a great learning experience.
The competition is still developing and many players do see it as a stepping-stone to go on and forge a career abroad.
That is the Sydney-born player's aim and he's looking to settle in quickly at Derby - especially with the help of a fellow countryman.
Mile Sterjovski joined the Rams in January this year and Zadkovich credits the winger as a key influence in helping him decide to move here.
"Mile has been such a big help and he is one of the reasons why I wanted to come here," he added.
"He is such a nice person off the field and such a good player on it that I can only learn from him.
"To have a mate like that here, a fellow Australian, will be good for me.
"Obviously the facilities here are great, I saw that for myself, but Mile also spoke very highly of the club and gave me a lot of positive feedback.
"But just take a look around - you don't have to say much about a club like this."
