Cosgrove welcomes interest but Dons are his priority for now
SAM COSGROVE is flattered that his recent goalscoring exploits have attracted interest from other clubs — but the striker is only interested in continuing his football education at Aberdeen. Dons manager Derek McInnes has revealed that teams are already looking at the striker, who has scored 15 goals in his last 14 games for the Pittodrie club. No surprise there really, when you consider that only Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos has scored more Premiership goals this season than the £30,000 bargain buy from Carlisle United. The 22-year-old, who started out as a youngster with Everton and Wigan Athletic, admits he is still on a steep learning curve during his first full season in Scottish football. His career only really started to take off after experiencing the physical demands of English League Two football at Brunton Park. Now, though, the faith McInnes showed in Cosgrove, who took nine months to score his first goal for Aberdeen, is why he was happy to sign a new three-year deal in January. ‘Interest is always nice to hear but I am always fully focused as I recently signed a new deal and I’m happy at Aberdeen,’ said Cosgrove. ‘It’s a massive club and it will be really good for me to stay here as I’ve still got a lot to learn. ‘I am still fairly young, so I am always learning and there’s still a lot to improve. ‘I’m working hard to do that every day but I am thankful to the manager for the faith that he has put in me. ‘He’s given me numerous chances and, while the performances were there over the last few months, the goals tally didn’t reflect those. ‘Now I am just happy to be repaying his belief in me with the goals to go along with those good performances. ‘I came through youth systems where the ball was always on the floor, so even as a big guy growing up, I was never really used as a proper target man. ‘Going to Carlisle and the rough and tumble of League Two was a massive shock with big brutes going through the back and smashing me. ‘It was a harsh wake-up call that there’s a different side of football that needs to be sorted before you can get the ball down and play. ‘I wasn’t up to the physical demands of it but I got used to it and coming up to Scotland made me realise it was quite a big asset.’