Ime Okon over the moon with Hannover deal

The 21-year-old Bafana Bafana centre-back signed for the German second-tier side as a free agent after the expiry of his SuperSport United contract.

He penned a four-year deal with the club now managed by Christian Titz and hoping to improve on last season's ninth place finish under former boss Andre Breitenreiter.

Okon told the club's website: "I am delighted to be signing with Hannover 96. I'm very excited about this challenge of playing in Germany.

"I am really looking forward to the club, wanting to become a better player and mature as a person.

"I would describe myself as a fast, robust defender – I'll try to contribute these strengths from now on and help the team."

Hannover managing director Marcus Mann added: "Ime is a player with exciting potential with very good physical attributes.

"Christian Titz [the club's coach] and Andre Kilian [who's the assistant coach] have been observing his development for some time. We then collected data on him during scouting and evaluated his athletic profile, which is exceptional.

"It's quite clear that he will need time to adapt, but he is extremely willing to learn, so we definitely see the potential in him to develop really well."

Okon played 52 times for SuperSport, scoring two goals, and recently made his international bow for South Africa at the recent COSAFA Cup.