In Serbia, reports about Derrick Lucassen continue, and following the revelation by the website “sportal,” "mozzartsport" has confirmed that the Ghanaian signed a three-year contract with Red Star last night.

As the Serbian media reports, the player turned down an offer from Paphos for a three-year contract with an annual salary of 700,000 euros.

A key role in the transfer, as reported, was played by the general manager of the Belgrade team, Zvezdan Terzić, who convinced Lukassen’s camp to reach an agreement.

Here is the report in detail: “Until now, the focus had been on the wings of the attack—an issue that was resolved with the acquisition of three new players, while the midfield was bolstered by Muhammed Chama— however, interest has now shifted to other positions as well. Thus, Red Star has signed a new center back, Derrick Lukassen, who has just returned from the World Cup where he played for the Ghana national team, even scoring a goal in the loss to Croatia.

The news was first reported by Sportal, and Mozzart Sport confirmed today that Lukassen signed a three-year contract with the “Red-and-Whites” late last night, which allows him to play in the rematch as part of the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

Lukassen is arriving in Belgrade as a free agent, as his contract with Paphos had expired —the team with which he had eliminated Red Star in the Champions League playoffs last summer.

He then put in outstanding performances at the World Cup, even though he was included in the squad as a replacement for the injured Alexander Jiku (of Spartak Moscow). Ghana finished third in its group—ahead of Panama and behind England and Croatia—before losing to Colombia (0-1) in the knockout stage. Lukassen attracted interest from many clubs, including Anderlecht, Ajax, Beşiktaş, and Fenerbahçe, while Paphos, according to our sources, had offered him a new three-year contract with an annual salary of 700,000 euros, plus bonuses.

Red Star took a more decisive approach: General Manager Zvezdan Terzić traveled to Budapest for final negotiations with agent Giuliano Bertolucci regarding Lukassen’s transfer andmanaged to finalize the deal.”