Miguel Ribeiro says Sporting had been after 21-year-old player for months | OneFootball

Sporting moved quickly to secure Ibrahima Ba after the centre-back’s transfer to Strasbourg fell through. The confirmation came from Miguel Ribeiro, president of Famalicão’s SAD, who admitted that the Alvalade club had been pursuing the player for several months, confirming a report exclusively given by our newspaper that the defender was the Lions’ number one target in the event of Ousmane Diomande’s departure.

"Due to issues between the player and the French club — and not between Famalicão and Strasbourg — the deal did not go through", the official revealed to the newspaper 'Record'.

The Lions took advantage of the opportunity and moved to seal the deal with the player. Miguel Ribeiro explained that Sporting had already identified the athlete and did not take long to act: "He was a player who had already been flagged up, and Sporting quickly reached an agreement with him".

The player arrived at Famalicão in 2024, where he went through a development phase before reaching the first team: "Ibrahima came to Famalicão’s under-23 team, had a year of development, was promoted to the first team, did not play for six months, and then started playing", Miguel Ribeiro said.

"He already had a year and a half of development behind him", he added, explaining the progress of the young player who now strengthens the green and whites.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.