“GOING into Premier League games, I feel like laughing. It’s my dream, I’m here.” Walking into a media room, Sammie Szmodics moves and speaks with the confidence and swagger of a boy born and brought up in Essex. 

He says that he loves having a point to prove. At 28, it has taken the forward a long time to make it in the Premier League. His first start after a move to Suffolk came away to the champions Manchester City, it took him just seven minutes to become a Premier League goalscorer. 

Two weeks later he led the Republic of Ireland attack against England at a sold-out Lansdowne Road in Dublin. It has been a dream period for the man who finished the previous season as the Championship’s top goalscorer with Blackburn Rovers.