Cork City announce the signing of midfielder Rokas Stanulevičius

Sporting Director Liam Buckley also confirmed City will seek a replacement for Matt Healy if he doesn't re-sign for the club in the coming days.

DONE DEAL: Cork City FC announce the signing of Rokas Stanulevičius, subject to international clearance. Pic credit: CorkCityFC.ie

Cork City have announced the signing of Rokas Stanulevičius, subject to international clearance.

The 28-year-old central midfielder joins the club after a spell in Romania while he also played for clubs in Israel and his native Lithuania.

“First of all, I am really happy and honoured to be part of Cork City FC," he told the club's official website.

"I did not know too much about the club before, but then I heard the club played in the Europa League against Ekranas from Lithuania in 2005. I was there in the youth academy of Ekranas, and I remember I was at the game.

“I am a team player, and I will give everything for the team in every game. I hope that the fans will see more long shots, passes and stability from the middle. I trained with my teammates this morning and everybody greeted me warmly. The quality of the training was great and I think the team have all the conditions to succeed.”

City’s Sporting Director, Liam Buckley added; “I am delighted to get Rokas on board, and I think he will be a very good addition to our squad.

"He’s a good passer of the ball, he can get around the pitch well and links the play well, so I think he can help us improve. He has a good range of passing and he is also an experienced player, so I am pleased to add him to the squad.”

The playmaker is the third signing the club has made in this transfer window following the additions of Conor Drinan and Republic of Ireland U21 international goalkeeper Tiernan Brooks last week.

But speaking at their weekly press conference earlier on Tuesday, Buckley admitted he hoped Stanulevičius isn’t the final player to join the Rebel Army this summer.

“We would like to make maybe four or five (signings) in total, including the two lads, five in total would be the max.

“It’s just we’ve lost a few through injury like Darragh (Crowley), Ethon (Varian) and (Albin) Winbo who are out for the season so it’s important that we do get in these three, four or five players.

“It’s not changing huge amounts, it’s just to supplement what we have and please god we can pick up enough points to get out of the bottom two.”

City’s need to acquire more players could increase even further should Matt Healy not return to Leeside.

Healy’s loan deal expired at the beginning of the month, not long after his parent club Ipswich Town released him following the conclusion of their season.

The 21-year-old is currently in talks with a couple of other clubs as well as City but Buckley confirmed that if Healy doesn’t re-sign in the coming days – he will need to register by Friday in order to feature away at Sligo Rovers on Saturday evening – he will have find a replacement.

“I’m in touch with him the whole time so I am just waiting for him to come back and tell me what he feels,” added Buckley.

“There’s part of me that tells me he wants to stay in Cork. I think he enjoyed his time here, the agent might be pushing something else I don’t know.

“We would like him to stay. I have told him how much I want him to stay, it will be good for his development to stay here.

“There’s one or two other options that he has so we’re just not sure which one he is going to take.

“If he wants to come here, open arms, great, back in and we’ll push on for the rest of the season. If not, we’ll just get a replacement.

“He’s already missed last weekend’s game so if he was to stay we’ll need to know in the next few days to be honest.”