Steel FC bring in Antonio Lokwa on loan

Bethlehem Steel FC earlier today announced the loan of Antonio Lokwa from MFK Vyškov in the Czech Republic. Completed prior to the window closing on August 8th, Antonio will join the side on loan for the remainder of 2018 and Bethlehem Steel have confirmed that there is an option to loan Lokwa for the whole of the 2019 season. He will occupy an international slot.

Before playing in the third-tier Moravian-Silesian Football League with MKF Vyškov, Lokwa also had appearances with A.C Ujana, a club in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo. Outside of his limited club career, Antonio is starting to gain some traction with the DRC national teams as well. Training and making a few appearances with the brilliantly named Small Leopards, the box-to-box midfielder will look to make some impressions mostly in training early on, and judging by Brendan Burke’s comments, he might be around next year as well.

“He brings physical qualities that we are looking for in a central midfielder going forward as a box-to-box and a six role. He’s only 18 so we aren’t expecting anything right out of the gate but hopefully these months become the start of something special with an introduction to our club culture and to the United States. Hopefully, he can be part of the frame work of next year’s team and if he helps on the run up for the USL Cup Playoffs, even better.”

The move is still pending a P1 visa and as a result Lokwa will be unavailable for the match tomorrow against Toronto FC II in Rochester. We’ll have an update and more information about Antonio when he’s in training, hopefully next week.