Richie Towell has reiterated his ambition to play his way into Ireland’s Euro 2016 squad after completing his move to Brighton and Hove Albion.

But the 24 year-old Dubliner, who has signed a two and a half year contract with Chris Hughton’s side, admits that his most pressing task will be to convince his new club manager that he is worth a place in his team.

“First and foremost I need to break into the Brighton squad,” he said at the press conference where he was unveiled by his new club yesterday. “They have some really good players here but I’m determined to give the manager a few headaches

“It’s every boy’s dream to play for their national senior team. I was lucky to play right through from 15s to U-21s and I’ve played with a lot of the players who are there (playing for Ireland) now but it’s going to be a big ask. I haven’t played in a qualifier, I’m going to have to have some eye-catching performances but hopefully I can give that manager a headache as well.

“I scored a lot of goals last year and I never got a call-up but I think if I do it in the Championship for Brighton then it will be recognised a lot more but I don’t want to get caught up on that to be honest. I want to focus on what I can do now and that’s getting into the Brighton team. I’m really excited about this chapter in my life. I just can’t wait to get started.”

Towell won’t be eligible to play for his new club until January 2nd, the day after Brighton play Wolves in the league and so the first time he could feature is likely to be the club’s FA Cup third around tie. With the club currently top of the Championship, breaking into the side will be a challenge but he says that the nature of England’s second tier provides some cause for optimism.

“I don’t think I’d have made the move if I wasn’t confident of playing,” he said.

“Obviously it’s not going to be easy; they have a lot of good players playing in my position but there are a lot of games to be played in the Championship so at different stages people are going to get fatigued and there are going to be injuries picked up so once I’m ready to step in and I hit the ground running, I’m sure it will be a hard decision for the manager to leave me out.”

His cause may be helped by the presence of Colin Calderwood, Hughton's assistant. He was the manager of Hibernian who took Towell to that club and played him on a regular basis.

“He brought me there when I was really young so to be back working with him is really great. I’m just really excited for it all to kick off.”