Swedish side IK Sirius' attempt to replace departed Ghanaian midfielder Kingsley Sarfo with compatriot Emmanuel Yeboah has failed due to visa issues, GHANASoccernet.com can confirm.
Sarfo joined giants Malmo FF this summer following a stellar performance in the Swedish top flight.
Yeboah, 19, plays as an offensive midfielder for lower division Miracle FC but is on loan at premiership side Great Olympics.
"He is a left-footed player just like Kingsley, but he's longer and stronger in the body, but with equally good technicalities. And can make more points,'' says agent Niklas Strand , who scouted Sarfo to Sweden.
''He can also play on the wings but his favorite position is a number 10 position, as the offensive midfielder.
"Myself and coaches Thomas Lagerlöf and Kim Bergstrand already planned in January that we should pick up a replacement for Kingsley. The plan was that he would leave Sirius this summer.
However, Yeboah has had major problems traveling to Sweden with regards to visa and has seen his move hit rocks since IK Sirius are finished with their summer transfers.
"Emmanuel would have been to Sweden and be at Sirius already in January to April. He would have been matching and hanging out with Kingsley to get into everything,'' Strand told Fotbolltransfers.com.
'''But then the visa application was rejected and could not properly understand why we were refused. We sent back the application and rescheduled all the papers with a new invitation from Sirius, but then the time passed.
''He would also have been here already in June, one month before the window opened, but the embassy pulled out of it and needed 30 days of processing time, but according to the rules it should only be 14 days.
"Then we found out that he was rejected this week and the reason was that the documents were not enough. But all the documents are sufficient, so we've got a new meeting with the embassy in Ghana, and I'll go there to meet them and find out what needs to be done.
"No, now Sirius has finished working in this window. Sirius have signed players but not a real replacement with the key features that Kingsley Sarfo had. It's not easy to find. We have to wait until the next window and see if it will happen then if I cannot find anything else during the summer"
"We hope he can deliver just as Kingsley did.''