Omer Riza came to us last season as a mystery player on trial. It transpired that he was suspended by the Turkish FA and had to wait a while for things to be sorted out. Fitness and injuries have limited his appearances until now, and he is well on the road to recovery. I spent a little time chatting to him about life in Shrewsbury, his career and his thoughts on the future.

MB: You have been here for a while now, how are you settling in?

OR: I am very happy with the way I have settled in, my family are down here, my daughter is at school, my son has started school part time. My wife is happy, it's a lovely town, just the playing side of it really now, and showing everybody what I can do.

MB: You started with Arsenal and were there when Arsene Wenger came in, and brought in some world class players, what was that like as a youngster?

OR: It was good, a good experience, I was there from the age of 9 until I was 19. I managed to play in a couple of games in the first team and went on a few champions league games, which was a big experience. It was good playing with some very good first team players; you know the quality that I am talking about there.

MB: You had a spell playing in the Netherlands with Den Haag on loan, how did that work out?

OR: I spoke to Wenger and he said it would be good for me to go out on loan to get some experience, which I did at Den Haag, scoring 5 times in 10 appearances, but I came back and wasn't quite happy with things.

MB: How did you end up moving to West Ham?

OR: I actually got offered a new contract there (Arsenal), which I rejected and moved to West Ham. In hindsight, you could say I made a bit of a mistake there, I could have signed a new contact and got on with it, but when you have another Premiership club offering you a chance to start playing in the first team, you have to listen. So I went to West Ham and a couple of weeks later I was sub against Arsenal at Highbury. We had a good team at the time, half of them are in the England squad now, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe, great players like Paolo Di Canio and David James. I was there for two and a half years, and when you are there and you are sub and you are not coming on, I should have had a few more appearances really, but I didn't. So I had a season at Cambridge, where I scored 18 goals that year. I had a couple of opportunities to move to clubs above that league (The Championship), but I felt I could play at a better level. I had super league teams interested in me, so that's when I went abroad to Turkey.

MB: That was with Denizlispor?

OR: Yes, I went there and established myself, over 2 seasons scoring something like 18 goals, 8 one season and 10 the next. I had some interest then from trying to get into the national team, and that's when I moved to Trabzonspor, which is a top 4 club in the country. It was quite a difficult situation as we had some real top quality players from around the world, like Marcellino who is at Wolfsburg now.

MB: But things didn't finish so well?

OR: I had 12 starts at Trabzon, and I scored 7 goals so they can't moan about what I gave them back. It was a case of: no matter how well I did, players that were worth 10 million Euros' were playing ahead of me; you know the politics of football. I was also being mistreated, we always had money problems at the club, we got paid very late at times, and I basically walked out of the club in January 2008, and the case is ongoing.

MB: is that from your side or theirs?

OR: It's on my part, because I am seeking compensation now from Trabzonspor, I am trying to get FIFA to look at the case. Now I am here and I started the season, as far as I am concerned I started pre-season well. I was just looking to get fit; match fitness has been my main issue over the last 2 years. Not starting the season against Burton was a bit of a disappointment to me, I thought I should have been playing. Then I had to knuckle down, I played a few games like Ipswich where I played well when I came on, but then I broke my ankle against Dagenham. I am now on my way back again, I've played a couple of reserve games.

MB: You have broken both ankles and had the unpleasantness with Trabzonspor, would you consider yourself unlucky?

OR: I wouldn't say I am unlucky; things happen to players and you just have to get on with it. It's been disappointing for me, I think that's the best way to put it, because you lose a lot of form and it's hard for people to understand what you lose, and how you need to get it back. The only thing I need as far as technique is concerned and playing ability, all I need is time on the pitch, then everybody can see what I can do.

I've played 2 reserve games, against Burton in which I didn't really get out of first gear, just to get through the game. I played against Macclesfield, albeit I played on the wing which is not my position, I'm a striker. I played left wing, tried to do my job, scored a good goal, but I just want to get back in the squad now and the starting 11.

MB: How did you end up coming to Shrewsbury?

OR: I think the gaffer was at Preston at the time and he had seen me at Cambridge, so he knew of me, but then he left. My father is my agent, and he got in touch with Preston and Preston I think rang the gaffer and told him about me, and we took it from there basically.

I would just like to say that I signed a 1 year contract here, and I am hoping that I do well this year, really well, and I will get offered another deal, preferably a longer one. Then if I do really well, make some money for the club further down the line, if not, I am really happy her, it's a nice place and who knows, I could be here for quite a while.

MB: What are your thoughts on this weekend's game?

OR: Well I am definitely hoping to be in the squad, I have trained well this week. I trained well last week, but the gaffer didn't think I was ready, which was a fair judgement. Hopefully we will get a good result against Torquay and press on again, and get the 4 or 5 wins that we need to get us pushed on.