samuel joined leeds united, managed by his former aston villa teammate simon grayson, on trial on 19 july 2011. he was included in the squad against rochdale the same evening. he came off the bench at the start of the second half in a match leeds won by a single first half goal from max gradel. samuel was released from the trial after picking up an injury. on 30 july 2011, samuel played for 79 minutes on trial for west ham united in their final pre-season game against real zaragoza which west ham won 2–0. however, west ham decided against offering him a permanent contract.