Mcglynn hoping to polish up ‘rough diamond’ striker Duku

John Mcglynn is hoping to take a leaf out of the book of Premiership trio Motherwell, Hamilton and Kilmarnock with the capture of striker Manny Duku.

The Stark’s Park men have plucked the Dutchman from non-league football south of the border on a 12-month deal.

The 27-year-old started out in the youth set-up at Eredivisie side Heerenveen in his homeland but has been with various clubs down the divisions in England since moving over in 2015.

He had his most successful stint with Hayes and Yeading three seasons ago and returned to the seventh-tier outfit in January after a short spell in League Two with Cheltenham Town and further moves to Barnet, Halifax Town and Torquay United.

And Mcglynn is hopeful he has plucked a diamond from the rough, just like some clubs in the top-flight have proved able to do.

He said: “You get more and more contact with different agents, and a lot more agents down south are trying to bring players up here.

“You can see that with Kilmarnock signing a couple of guys from non-league, Hamilton have just signed a striker from non-league. There’s more and more coming up here.

“Manny is six feet three and there’s not many strikers in Scotland that size.

“We became aware of him in May or June of last year and I didn’t think we would have got him last year. But this year we tried a little bit harder and we’ve managed to get him up here.

“He’s not a household name but you’ll probably find that with the players who are coming up from England – probably nobody’s heard of the lad who signed for Hamilton (Tunde Owolabi), and probably the guy who signed for Kilmarnock (Danny Whitehall).

“There’s a lot more of this happening. Motherwell are very good at picking up these types of guys from the lower leagues in England and, all of a sudden, they’re playing in the Premiership.”