Brisbane Roar can confirm striker Kosta Barbarouses has signed for Russian First Division club FC Alania Vladikavkaz on a three-year contract.
Barbarouses has been trialling with the Russian outfit and terms were agreed between the clubs for an undisclosed fee for the young New Zealand international-s services late this week.
The transfer is effective immediately.
Brisbane Roar Head Coach Ange Postecoglou said he would have preferred to see Barbarouses stay at least another season in the Hyundai A-League but believed the chance to play in Europe was a great opportunity.
“We-re definitely disappointed to see Kosta leave the club, he was an important part of our team,” Postecoglou said.
“I would have liked for him to stay another season to further his development.
“That was not to be, I-m sure Kosta will be a great asset to his new club and we wish him the best of luck.
“Our club policy is to identify young talent, help them to develop their game within our team structure and enable to them to further their careers.”
Barbarouses- new club will take part in the qualifying rounds of this season-s Europa League having made the Russian Cup final against CSKA Moscow.
CSKA had already qualified for European competition, enabling Alania to secure a qualifying berth regardless of the result.
Alania lost the final 2-1 in May and are currently second in the Russian First Division after 19 matches.
Postecoglou said he was confident he could find a suitable replacement for the Barbarouses.
“I-ve obviously known about this possibility for a little while now, so we-ve already got some things in place to find a replacement,” he said.
Brisbane Roar will take on an Ipswich Invitational side at North Ipswich Reserve tomorrow at 3pm.
Entry is by gold coin donation to raise funds for the Salvation Army to help those affected by January-s floods in the region.
