Limerick FC manager Pat Scully has said the club “will do their homework properly” on the two CSKA players they are attempting to sign on loan from CSKA Moscow.
Club officials were in discussions with two players on Tuesday night - one a Polish international, the other a former £5m signing - about a loan deal for the upcoming Airtricity League season.
Polish international Dawid Janczyk and Lubos Kalouda from the Czech Republic both played a friendly match for Limerick against Sligo Rovers on Monday night and could be signed on loan by the club by the end of the week.
Club chairman Pat O’Sullivan confirmed to the Limerick Leader that he was in a meeting with the players and said they were trying to establish if they were happy to move to the city on a loan deal.
The players are expected to train with Limerick today before flying home on Thursday.
Manager Pat Scully is excited about the prospect of adding these players to his squad but insisted the club “will do their homework properly” on the two players.
“Everything looks great on the surface,” said Scully, “but obviously you have to dig a bit deeper. If it’s right, it would be great to bring in quality like that.
“We have a great group of young players but won’t be bringing these lads in if we don’t think they’re as good as they players we already have.
“We got a look at them on Monday night. It was difficult on them as they only flew in the night before and we could only go through few things quickly with them in terms of tactics. But Lubos played in central midfield and you could see that he has real quality.
“We were a bit dis-organized so it was harder for Dawid up front but his movement was very good and he only got one chance and scored a screamer of a goal.
“Obviously the club has to speak to the players but that’s up to Pat O’Sullivan and Kieran Judge (General Manager). We obviously want to bring in quality players but I think it’s a great indication of where Limerick are at at the moment that a club of CSKA’s status would be in touch with us.”
Janczyk signed a five-year contract for CSKA in 2007 and while he played in the group stages of the Champions League with them that season, and was in Poland’s preliminary squad for Euro 2008, he has been out on loan mostly since.
He has played in Belgium, Poland and the Ukraine and was recently linked with a move to Qatar.
Kalouda, a star of the Czech Republic U-20 team that reached the 2007 World Cup final, was signed by CSKA Moscow for £5m in 2008 but only made five appearances for them before going out on loan to first Sparta Prague and later Volgar Gasprom (Russia) and PFK Oleksandria (Ukraine).
Scully reckons that a move to Ireland could help re-launch their careers.
“They’re not in CSKA Moscow team but there’s no shame in that,” he added.
“The transfer window is still open here unlike most other countries in Europe at the moment. It’s the closest league to England and you just have to look at the likes of Kevin Doyle, James McClean or Keith Fahey to see that it is a shop window for players.”
Limerick open their Airtricity League Division 1 campaign at home to Finn Harps on Friday, March 3.
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