Dominic James Samuel (born 1 April 1994) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a striker for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

club

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 fr ...

Club career

As part of the Reading

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

, Samuel enjoyed a prolific start to the 2011–12 season, scoring 13 goals in 14 games for the under-18 side. As a result, he was rewarded with his first professional contract on 17 December 2011. He made his debut for Reading coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute, for

Garath McCleary Garath James McCleary (born 15 May 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Wycombe Wanderers. Born in England, he represented the Jamaica national team. Club career Early career McCleary was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire. ...

, in Reading's 3–0 defeat away to Sunderland on 11 December 2012. On 3 January 2013 Samuel joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on a one-month youth loan deal. After making two appearances, he returned to Reading on 31 January. On 9 January 2014, Samuel joined teammate Lawson D'Ath at Dagenham & Redbridge on a one-month youth loan. He made his debut three days later against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

though he was forced off during the first half with a knee injury. Reading later confirmed that his loan had been cut short as the damage needed to be repaired surgically. On 29 January 2015, Samuel joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

on loan till 28 April 2015, scoring on his debut against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. On 13 November 2015, Samuel joined

side Gillingham on an emergency loan deal until 10 December. On 9 December, Samuel had his loan spell with Gillingham extended until 2 January 2016. On 5 January 2016, Gillingham announced that Samuel had extended his stay at Priestfield for another three weeks. Samuel scored his first goal for Reading against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

on 19 November 2016. On 31 January 2017, Samuel joined

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2016–17 season.

Blackburn Rovers

On 18 July 2017, Samuel signed a three-year deal with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

for an undisclosed fee. He started his Rovers career brightly with four goals in his first six appearances, but a major

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

injury later stifled his development. On 24 June 2020 it was announced that he had signed a short contract extension to allow him to remain with the club until the end of the 2019–20 season after its resumption following the Coronavirus outbreak, but he was then released at the end of the season.

Gillingham

On 21 September 2020 Samuel re-joined Gillingham on a permanent basis. He scored two goals on his second debut for the Kent side on 26 September 2020, leading the Gills to a 2-0 league victory over Blackpool.

Ross County

On 29 June 2021 Samuel joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

side Ross County on a two-year deal.The prolific striker started in fine form scoring a deflection against East Fife in one of his 39 games with the club. Samuel was released by the club on 15 June 2023 upon the expiry of his contract after two years at the club.

Ebbsfleet United

On 27 October 2023, Samuel joined

side

International career

Samuel made his debut England under-19 against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

on 7 October 2011. Samuel scored his first goal for the under-19s in his next match for them, against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, in a 3–1 victory on 9 October 2011.

Career statistics

Honours

Blackburn Rovers * EFL League One runner-up: 2017–18

References

External links

Dominic Samuel profile
at Reading F.C.
Dominic Samuel profile
at the FA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Dominic 1994 births Living people Footballers from Southwark English men's footballers Black British sportsmen England men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Reading F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Ross County F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players