Korona Kielce’s sporting director Arkadiusz Bilski has admitted it’s “highly likely” that defender Piotr Malarczyk will be leaving his club with the Polish media reporting that the 24-year-old has already agreed personal terms with Town.
Malarczyk was in Ipswich for talks earlier in the week and Town were hoping to get the move done before the weekend but the deal between the clubs still seems a little way off completion.
According to Polish reports, Korona are claiming they’re yet to receive a formal bid from the Blues triggering the buy-out clause in Malarczyk’s contract, only a letter in which Town expressed their interest in the centre-half or right-back, although this is disputed by the player's representative.
However, this would appear to be a relatively minor stumbling block and the move seems set to go through before the transfer window closes next Tuesday if not before the end of the week.
When Malarczyk, who captains the club, signed a new one-year contract in June he is understood to have asked for a clause allowing him to move on for 50,000 Polish Zloty, just over £8,500, if a foreign club came in for him and he was keen on the switch.
Sporting director Bilski, speaking to Korona’s website yesterday, said he expected the deal to go through: "No final decision about Piotr's future has been made. But there is a big danger that he's not going to stay at Korona.”
Bilski refused to talk about figures but confirmed that the clause exists: "I cannot say what the buy-out clause is as it's a trade secret but if a club that's interested in Piotr meets the clause value then legally he's their player.
"We wanted to keep him not only because he's a great footballer but also because he's come through our ranks, he's a club icon and a perfect example to all the young players. We expected him to leave but not earlier than in the winter transfer window.
"Nothing's yet finalised but it's highly likely that he's going. We'll be trying to fill this gap but we're aware that it will be extremely hard.”
Head coach Marcin Brosz also appeared to accept that Malarczyk is on his way and won’t be involved in Saturday’s game against PogoÅ„ Szczecin.
"We've got only two training sessions left to pick up the starting line up. We have to concentrate on the players that are currently with us and their potential.” he said.
"I would lie if I said that Malarczyk's leaving wouldn't mean anything to us. But the league's already started and we need points.
"Korona as a club is the most important thing here. We should not be thinking about matters that we have no control over.”
Malarczyk, who was previously interesting another Polish side, Jagiellonia Białystok, has been with Korona, who play in the Ekstraklasa, the Polish top flight, throughout his career.
He made his senior debut in 2009 and has now made 131 appearances, scoring eight goals. Malarczyk has also been capped by Poland at U17, U19 and U21 international levels.