The £5m man and the Polish international set to sign for Limerick FC

LIMERICK FC are on the verge of signing two players from Russian giants CSKA Moscow on loan for their upcoming Airtricity League campaign.

Polish international Dawid Janczyk and former Czech Republic U-20 player Lubos Kalouda, who was once signed for £5m by CSKA and linked with Juventus, were welcomed to Shannon Airport by Limerick FC Chairman Pat O’Sullivan on Sunday and featured in a friendly match against Sligo Rovers in Terryland Park in Galway on Monday. Janczyk scored a goal in the 3-2 loss.

The players (both aged 24) will also train with the squad on Wednesday and, according to club media manager Joe Sweeney, could be fully signed up by the end of the week. “Once everyone is happy, the loan deal should be signed,” said Sweeney on Monday.

“Pat Scully (manager) has only seen them online but as far as we know, they’re both quality players.

“They’re coming here and they want to improve - and if you’re a top player here, you will get spotted. You just have to look at James McClean to see that.

“We’re a club going in the right direction. We’re looking to win Division 1, be right up there in the Premier Division and we want to bring European football back to Limerick. We hope to be back in the Markets Field for the start of next season.”

While both players have played for CSKA in the Russian league, after signing five-year deals, you have to go back to 2008 for the last of Kalouda’s five appearances for the club and to 2007 for the last of Janczyc’s.

Janczyk (a striker) made 17 appearances over two seasons for CSKA, 12 of them off the bench. He also played three times in the group stages of the Champions League in the 2007/2008 season.

Janczyk won five caps for Poland in 2008-2009, two of them in World Cup qualification games when he came on as a sub. His career appears to have stalled somewhat since and has had loan spells at KSC Lokeren and Beerschot AC in the Belgian league, Korona Kielce in the Polish league and PFK Oleksandria in the Ukraine Division 2, where Kalouda also was last season.

Like Janczyk, Kalouda’s career hasn’t taken off in the way it once threatened to. He was a star midfielder on the Czech Republic U-20 team that were beaten by Argentina in the World Cup final in 2007, where he scored three goals including one in the quarter-final win over Spain. He was later linked with moves to Newcastle, Chelsea and Juventus before CSKA paid Czech club FC Brno £5.18m in 2008. However, he made just five appearances for CSKA and has had loan spells with Sparta Prague, Volgar Gasprom (Russia) and Oleksandria since.

Should Limerick pull off these signings, it could be a massive boost to their promotion hopes, if the two players deliver on the potential they showed earlier in their careers.

Limerick just missed out on promotion last season but begin their season on Friday, March 2, with a home game against Finn Harps. Following Galway Utd’s withdrawal, there are only eight teams in the league this season.

Explaining these possible signings, Sweeney said that the club have links with a number of European clubs. He also confirmed that they are working on bringing a high-profile club to Thomond Park for a friendly later in the year. Previous plans to bring FC Barcelona to Limerick in 2009 fell through.