Harambee Stars keeper Matasi seals big money move to Ethiopia

Harambee Stars goalkeeper Patrick Matasi is set to join Ethiopian giants Saint George SC, Nation Sport can confirm.

Matasi, who joined Tusker from Posta Rangers in the midseason transfer window, left the country on Thursday morning for Addis Ababa where he is set to put pen-to-paper on a two-year deal in one of the most expensive transfers from the Kenyan Premier League in the recent past.

“It is true that Matasi in enroute to Addis where we expect to finalise the deal in the afternoon. We have already agreed on the transfer fee with Tusker and what remains is just personal terms and the medical,” said a source from Addis.

Nation Sport understands that Tusker could be in line to make a killing out of the deal, barely four months after acquiring the player on a free transfer from Rangers.

“We had an option of signing a Ghanaian goalkeeper from the Zambia Super League but Matasi’s exploits with the Kenyan national team in the Cup of Nations qualifiers have convinced us otherwise,” added our source.

Matasi has not conceded in the three 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers that he has started, including back-to-back cleansheets against Ethiopia in the last seven days.

“He is going to St George. We wish we had him much longer here because of his abilities but you can’t hold on to such a player when his time comes. He already has his release letter from Tusker and we can only wish him the very best,” a source at Ruaraka, who cannot be named as they are not authorised to speak to the media, told Nation Sport on Thursday.

If Matasi’s move goes through, it will be the second multi-million deal the club has done in recent times, following the exit of Ugandan left back Shaffik Batambuze to Tanzania’s Singida United in the midseason of the 2017 campaign.

Batambuze has since joined Tusker’s rivals Gor Mahia in the Kenyan Premier League.