FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England’s search for a striker could soon be coming to an end. The club is currently weighing up a move for Danish striker Rajko Lekic after he completed a two-day trial with the Revolution on Thursday.
Head coach Steve Nicol said the prolific Silkeborg forward made a positive impression on the club's technical staff during his two training sessions with the team.
“We like what we've seen,” Nicol told MLSsoccer.com. “Like everything else, there are a few things we need to iron out, but we've been impressed with him in the past couple of days.”
The brief trial provided only a passing glimpse of Lekic's abilities, but the circumstances dictated the short evaluation period. Lekic remains under contract to Silkeborg until the end of the year and the Danish season is currently ongoing.
In order to take the once-capped Danish international on trial, the Revolution needed to secure written permission from Silkeborg. The Danish Superliga club allowed Lekic to link up with the Revolution, but limited his participation to two days.
“Obviously, we would have liked to have seen the player for a couple of more days, but the agreement with Silkeborg was that he would only train for two days,” Revolution vice president of player personnel Michael Burns said. “He trained with us on Wednesday and Thursday and he'll go back [Friday] evening.”
Now the Revs must decide whether to make a move for Lekic and whether the proposed terms of the move – Silkeborg, for instance, could hold out for a transfer fee to usher through an immediate switch given the remaining term on Lekic's deal – work for them.
“We'll have some internal discussions, we'll talk to his agent and the club and see if it makes sense if we can get something done,” Burns said.
Nicol said he expects the process to move swiftly as New England attempt to address their need for a proven striker and Lekic tries to sort out his own future.
“We need to make a decision quickly because we want to and he and his club need to know as well,” Nicol said. “It's an all around thing.”
