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This week, four foreigners from neighboring countries arrived for a trial with the team "Šiauliai". As the official club website announces, two Ukrainians are training with the team - goalkeeper Aleksandras Zabara and forward Viktoras Raskovas, as well as forward Valerijus Tsiganenka from Belarus and former member of the Latvian youth national team, defender Intars Kirchneris.
22-year-old A. Zabara has played for the reserves of Odessa's "Chernomorets", Lugansk's "Zaria", and Minsk's "Lokomotiv" teams in Belarus. His counterpart V. Raskovas is a product of the Odessa "Chernomorets" football school and played for the Dnipro Dzerzhinsk "Stal" team last year.
25-year-old Valerijus Tsiganenka is a product of the Minsk Sports School "Ataka" and has played intermittently since 2002 for Slonim's "Komunalschik" and Gomel's "ZLIN" teams in Belarus, as well as representing Finland's Tornio "TP-47". Meanwhile, 23-year-old Intars Kirchneris is a product of the Liepaja "Metalurgs" football school and played for the "Jurmala" team last year, also representing the Latvian youth team.
"The footballers meet the requirements of the coaches and the conditions of the contracts have already been discussed, the agreements will be signed in the near future after comprehensive medical examinations." - said club director Saulius Lesnickas.
According to the club manager, contracts with the foreign players are intended to be signed for longer than a year.
All the foreigners are young and promising, so we want them to play in the team for more than a year. If contracts are signed after the medical examination, the team's roster will be complete." - said S. Lesnickas.
"Šiauliai" coach Darius Magdišauskas said that the foreigners will strengthen the weakest parts of the team. "For the footballers who arrived quite late, it may be difficult to quickly integrate into the team, but we hope they will overcome these difficulties and become leaders of the team. The foreigners will fill the gaps where we don't have capable locals."
Of the foreigners from last year, only Latvian goalkeeper Ingus Lukovičius remains in the "Šiauliai" team. Failing to justify the expectations of the coaches last week, Ukrainian Vadimas Tarasovas left the team by mutual agreement.
