Gaxa finally leaves Sundowns

The Siboniso Gaxa saga has a happy ending at last. The player has signed a deal with Belgian club Lierse SK.

Sowetan learnt about these developments last night and it was confirmed by Downs spokesperson Alex Shakoane.

Lierse is the Belgian team that young SA midfielder Daylon Claasen plays for.

Gaxa travelled to Belgium last week to attend trials with a different Belgian team, KAA Gent, much to the relief of the player's agent, Glyn Binkin.

But by Friday the deal looked dead in the water and a war had erupted between the Downs management and another agent Rob Moore, who had somehow joined the fray.

Apparently Binkin had joined forces with Moore, who had taken Gaxa to Lierse without Sundowns' or Gent's approval.

An irate Sundowns then posted a strongly worded statement on their website, accusing the agents of ruining the right-back's chances of joining a quality European side. Lierse made an offer for the defender, which Downs deemed too low, accusing the agents of trying to pressure them into a quick sale.

But a local website posted a statement that was supposedly issued by the pair, saying they wished to apologise for the player leaving his trial at Gent early .

"We hope that it has not caused any inconvenience to either Gent or Sundowns because, out of respect, this was not our intention."

According to Shakoane, Lierse came "with a better offer", ending the anguish for the player and the acrimony between his club and his representatives.

"They assured us they were happy with him. Both parties are satisfied and the club eventually put an acceptable offer on the table," said Shakoane.

Gent were reportedly unhappy with Gaxa, dismissing his speed and acceleration as "below their benchmark for a right-back". But they had still arranged a friendly match against Antwerp on Friday afternoon to assess him further.

Gaxa is scheduled to join his Bafana Bafana teammates in camp this morning as they prepare for their African Nations Cup qualifying match against Niger.