Daniel Gyollai excited to link up with Magpies for short-term loan

Maidenhead United’s new on-loan keeper Daniel Gyollai has expressed his excitement at the prospect of being the club’s custodian over the Christmas period.

Gyollai has signed on a month’s loan basis from Peterborough United and will challenge James Holden for the number 1 berth during this period.

He tweeted this week: “Excited to be joining Maidenhead United for the festive period.”

The Magpies were hoping to have the deal ratified this week in time for the keeper to be in contention for the crucial Boxing Day clash at Wealdstone FC.

If the Magpies are to stay up this season, they’ll have to pick up points against the sides in and around them in the table, and Wealdstone certainly qualify as one of those.

They’ll go into the clash without much match practice, having played just once since December 7. That was the disappointing 4-0 loss to Solihull Moors at York Road, a game which damaged confidence and compounded the problems they’ve been having with COVID since the middle of November. Having managed to pick up just one point since the end of October, the Magpies have dropped into the relegation zone, but they remain level on points with Weymouth and Southend just above them in the table and a win on Sunday would surely see them jump back out of the bottom three.

Goalkeeper Gyollai was born in Hungary and graduated from his country’s football academy in 2013 before signing for Stoke City in the Premier League. A regular for the club’s Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy matches, he was an unused substitute for several senior matches before joining Nantwich Town on loan.

Following his release from Stoke he joined Wigan Athletic in the Championship before signing for League 1 side Peterborough United in July last year.

United had been looking to bring in a new stopper after releasing Rhys Lovett last week. Lovett, who’ll be most fondly remembered for his goal-scoring cameo as an outfield substitute in last season’s 4-1 win at Boreham Wood, made 15 appearances for the Magpies over the past two seasons.

He signed for Billericay Town last week and made his debut for them in Saturday’s goalless draw with Chelmsford City.