SHATTERED Alex Samuel left his home at 5am and spent 10 hours travelling on transfer deadline day - but told how he was happy to do so for the privilege of playing for Greenock Morton.

The 19-year-old made the long journey north from south Wales on Tuesday in order to seal a loan switch from English Premier League outfit Swansea City.

Striker Samuel only found out the move was a goer on Monday and, with little time to prepare, packed a suitcase and headed north first thing the next day.

There were suggestions he would play some part in Tuesday night’s Under-20s match against Queen of the South.

However, the teenager was exhausted after a hectic 24 hours and instead watched from the directors’ box in his new club jacket.

And it was from his perch in the stand that he spoke exclusively to the Tele about his move to Morton and desire to play first-team football.

He said: “I left at 5 o'clock this morning, so it took a 10-hour journey. It’s a long way from Swansea to Glasgow and then Greenock!

“I’m pretty tired. It’s been a long day, a very long day. But I got here in the end and that’s the important thing.

“It was all very recent. I found out on Saturday that Morton were interested and I thought it was a fantastic opportunity. As soon as I heard, I thought: ‘I would love to do that.’ “The manager, Jim Duffy, spoke to me and said he was interested and wanted me up here, and I said: ‘It would be a privilege to come up and play for your team.’ “Then it took off from there really. I found out yesterday [Monday] I was coming up to today, so it was a quick pack, shove it all in the car and head off. I’m really happy with the move, really happy.” As a member of the Swans Under-21 squad, Samuel counts former Falkirk trio Stephen Kingsley, Jay Fulton and Botti Biabi and ex-Hearts kid Adam King as team-mates.

But due to the overnight nature of the transfer, the teenager did not even have time to speak to the Scots contingent about the Ton.

He added: “I actually didn’t get the chance to speak to any of them. Honestly, I haven’t seen of my team-mates – it has literally been that quick.

“So I haven’t had a chat with them. But they’re good lads and I know they have experience of playing in the Scottish Championship and that they benefited from that.

“It’s experience, isn’t it? Playing real football. And I think at my stage right now, it’s the best thing for me.

“It was always my decision to come up and I wanted to do that because I wanted that experience and game time.” His ambitions are quite simple: to play, score goals, and hopefully help Morton have a successful season on their return to Scottish football’s second tier.

He explained: “I’d heard of Morton but I didn’t really know much about the club, so I had a good look at it.

“It’s the Championship. You’ve got Rangers and some other good teams like Hibs and St Mirren which was definitely an attraction.

“They have some really good players, so you get experience, learn stuff and develop as a player, and that’s what I’m looking to do.

“I want to put everything I can into this. I want to get in the team, pay regularly and hopefully get some goals and push the team up the table.” The last time Morton secured the services of a Welsh striker on loan, they struck gold with Cardiff City’s Robert Earnshaw.

The future internationalist spent just one month at Cappielow between January and February 2000 but made his mark by scoring two goals in four starts.

When Earnshaw’s time with the Ton was mentioned, Samuel smiled: “I got told that. He’s a player I used to watch playing for Wales so it would be good to follow in his footsteps.”