LIMERICK FC have announced two new signings, with the recruitment of Jason Hughes and Carel Tiofack.
Midfielder Hughes (22) has previously played with Limerick, as well as Athlone Town, and starred in the Limerick junior soccer scene with Janesboro and Ballynanty Rovers. He is also an underage international, having represented Ireland at under 18 level.
Tiofack (19), a Cameroon-born attacking midfielder, has also played underage football for Ireland, qualifying through residency as his family moved to Cork in 2004. He was most recently with Spanish club Cadiz, having also featured for Ipswich Town.
Manager Stuart Taylor was highly impressed by what he had seen of both players prior to their signing for the Super Blues.
He said: “We brought in a host of trialists from the junior level and Jason stood out head and shoulders above everybody else in terms of effort, commitment, fitness levels, hunger, desire and a passion to play. He had that attitude to go and improve himself. He also had the quality on the ball so we felt that he was a play who could add to our squad and we were delighted to get him tied up.
“Carel is someone that we knew about. We knew about his talent, we tried to get him over and unfortunately another club pipped us to get him in on trial quicker, but we managed to persuade him to come down and have a look at the club to see our game against Derry last Sunday. He’s going to be a good addition to the squad and I believe he’s certainly going to please the supporters. He’s got a lot of quality on the ball and certainly he’s got something a little bit different from what we’ve got in that final third of the pitch, which is something we’re looking to add to the team.”
Hughes and Tiofack are the only new arrivals in the transfer window thus far and an element of the Limerick FC support has bemoaned the lack of strengthening to the existing squad, particuarly in defence where the team has been suspect in recent games.
Taylor clarified that he had been looking at several other players in the past few weeks, but admitted that the process of persuading a player to put pen to paper is time-consuming and difficult.
“We’ve been trying to sign quite a few players. We’ve had a lot of dialogue with players in all positions over the transfer window and before the transfer window. We know the positions that we need to strengthen. We know where the club wants to go and we know what we need to do to get there.
“As a club we need to progress and we will progress. We’ll make the right signings along the way, whether we have to be patient or whether we get it straight away. We’ll do it when we can do it. There are many different aspects that you have to achieve when you’re going to sign a player.
“Finances and the lure of European football are huge. We can’t compete with the top clubs in Ireland at the moment, but there’s a lot of interest coming to the club because of the ambition that we’re showing and the people that we’ve got in the background. We just need to be patient and make sure the players are coming for the right reasons. It’s not without hard work that we’re not making certain signings, but we’re getting there.”
