A good choice

JOZEF TOKOS, agent of Ján Mucha:

“The English chapter has closed. Ján’s position at Everton was difficult, as he was the number two goalkeeper and the club never agreed to a loan move. He only got a brief chance in the spring after Howard’s injury and played a great match against City. The most important thing for Ján after the transfer was to play regularly in the highest-quality league possible. In Samara, coach Gadzhiev, formerly of Anzhi Makhachkala, counts on him as the number one. The strong Russian league is a good choice.

The absolute priority was to stay in England, but securing a number one spot in the Premier League in the summer of 2013 was unrealistic, and one top club from the Championship eventually chose another goalkeeper. In addition, there was significant interest from Dinamo Zagreb, another Russian top-flight club, a leading Belgian club, and a club from France.

Negotiations with Samara were fair but lengthy, lasting several weeks. We only agreed to the final proposal of terms. In the last days, it was a logistically demanding process. We finalized the key points of the contract in Germany around midnight from Sunday to Monday. I then personally managed the process of obtaining Russian visas at the embassy in Bonn. In the afternoon, we succeeded at the last moment before the evening flight to Samara. After Tuesday’s medical examination, nothing stood in the way of finalizing everything yesterday.”