Mustafa Amini says his next challenge is forcing his way into the Caltex Socceroos squad, and he hopes his strong first season in Denmark will lay the platform for his national team hopes.
With the Danish Superliga season having finished over the weekend, Amini says he's learnt plenty about the
Amini has regularly played out of position at Randers; while his club has endured a myriad of off-field sagas.
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Amini joined Randers after three years on the fringes at Borussia Dortmund.
After 57 games over three years with Dortmund's second team, Amini has relished playing 36 matches in all competitions in the space of 11 months.
"It's a good league, top league," he told Goal Australia.
"You know, you've got the likes of FC Copenhagen and FC Midtjylland and those kind of teams.
"And it was a bit of an unknown when I signed here and I've played a lot of games - started 30 games throughout the whole season… it's been good.
"I've played out of position on the wing and striker, number 10 and then back in midfield and been all over the shop.
"But at the end of the day if you gave me a paper and said you'll play 30 games this season I would have signed it.
"So I've been happy and it's been good."
Amini has refused to "100 per cent" commit his future to Randers, however, despite having two more years on his contract, with the 23-year-old keen to play an entire season as a central midfielder.
Randers will have a new coach next season - Olafur Kristjansson will replace Colin Todd - but that may not be enough to convince Amini to stay as he chases a maiden Socceroos cap.
"The next 12 months is massive, you know," he said.
"I want to be staking a claim for the Socceroos as well.
"I was part of the Olyroos and part of the [Under] 20s and all those Australian teams, and now the next step is the Socceroos."
Amini added: "We'll just see what happens. The transfer window's coming up soon as well and a lot of things can happen in that time."
At Randers, Amini and Australian goalkeeper Jack Duncan have experienced a roller-coaster year in terms of off-field drama.
The club was set for new owners only for the deal to break down, while their sports director departed for Superliga rivals AGF.
Then in March it was revealed captain Christian Keller was having an affair with the wife of midfielder Jonas Borring, who subsequently left Randers.
Amini believes he learnt a lot about how to focus during that period.
"There's been a lot of things happening around this club besides football… so it's been a pretty crazy season - less about football and more about that kind of stuff," he said.
"But at the end of the day we [the players] stuck to it, you know, we finished in the top six, which is a good achievement for our club."
While Amini is unsure where he will be playing next season, he remains convinced Denmark was the right place for him to kick-start his career.
"Mentally, I'm prepared for anything," he said.
"I've been doing well playing as a winger, as a striker, now as a midfielder for the last eight games, which has been good.
"I've seen [Socceroos coach] Ange [Postecoglou] has commented that I'm close to the national team, and now I've just got to keep working to get that call-up."
