BREAKING: Harambee Stars defender joins Belgian giants

Harambee Stars defender Joseph Okumu has sealed his transfer to Belgian giants K.A.A Gent from Swedish side, IF Elfsborg.

Last week, Okumu was granted permission to travel to Belgium for talks and medicals by his club and he has now inked a four-year deal that will see him stay at the club until 2025.

Stade Reims, Lorient, Nice, Rangers, Napoli, and Valencia had all expressed interest in signing the center-back but Gent managed to convince him with their project and he snubbed other suitors for a move to Belgium, the deal is said to worth. Ksh. 439 million. The club is also set to sign Paraguayan winger. Diego Torres.

After completing his secondary school education at Kakamega High School in 2015, Okumu moved to the now-defunct Kenyan Premier League side, Chemelil Sugar where he played for half a season before moving to Free State Stars of South Africa. After a year in South Africa, he moved to the US signing for, AFC Ann Arbor and later Real Monarchs.

In 2019 he moved to IF Elfsborg of Sweden where he went on to establish himself as a key player for the Swedish top tier side. His good run with the club attracted the interest of some top clubs in Europe.

At the international level, Okumu featured for Kenya U20, captained the Kenya U23 team, and is now a full international. He was part of the Kenya team that played at the 2019 African Cup of Nations in Egypt where Harambee Stars exited at the group stage. The lanky defender featured in all the group stage matches and impressed despite the fact that he was filling up for the experienced Brian "Niang" Mandela who suffered a horrific knee injury in the Harambee Stars pre-AFCON camp in France.

He becomes the third Kenyan to play for Gent after former internationals, Robert Mambo and John Muiruri.