African giants Esperance Sportive de Tunis have completed the signing of Lucas Ribeiro Costa.
Ribeiro, 27, was with Spanish Segunda side Cultural Leonesa last season after forcing his exit from Mamelodi Sundowns.
However, after Leonesa got relegated he became a free agent and had agreed to join Libyan club Al Ittihad under then coach Rulani Mokwena.
But after Mokwena left, Ribeiro had a change of heart, with ES Tunis swooping in to sign the Brazilian in what turned out a tricky transfer, involving players from the Tunisian side.
With negotiations dragging on, ES Tunis sent a delegation to Libya and announced on Thursday that finally a deal was struck.
“Last night, the vice president of the Tunisian sports club Esperance, Shakeri Al-Wa’ar, traveled to Libya to complete the procedures for the transfer of the Brazilian player Lucas Ribeiro to our club,”
“This morning, a meeting was held with a delegation from the Tunisian sports club, led by Shakeri Al-Wa’ar, and a delegation from the Libyan club, led by the executive director Abdelmajid Saleh, to finalize all the arrangements for this process.
“This is thanks to the Tunisian sports club, headed by the club president, Mr. Hamdi Madab, and his brother from the Libyan club, the Union of Libya, for their warm reception and treatment, which paves the way for further strengthening of relations and cooperation in the coming phase.”
The announcement brings an end to the transfer saga, which at some stage even looked like a Sundowns return could be on the cards.
Meanwhile, the legal case between Sundowns and Ribeiro has not been finalised yet.