Former Arua Hill striker Innocent Media has finally caught his long-awaited flight to Italy to seal his deal with Lucera Calcio.

He was seen leaving Entebbe International Airport on Saturday.

The-SportsNation now understands that the youthful player is set to put pen to paper on a three-years employment contract, as earlier on agreed with the Promozione championship side last month.

All plans had been made before, and Calcio even confirmed last month in a Facebook post that the budding prospect would arrive soon.

“A new lion is coming to town. Straight from Uganda Premier League,” Calcio captioned on Facebook with a photo of Media.

Calcio would later on delete the post, plus the player’s flight arrangements had to be changed, more than once, as there was still a ‘slight’ problem to settle with Arua Hill.

Media’s parent club insisted that the player was still contracted to them, and that any club that wants to buy him would have to do a professional transfer procedure, where they would have to be centrally involved, alongside the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA).

Media objected! Early this month, the player resorted to instead writing to the FUFA Dispute Resolution Chambers, particularly demanding that the club releases him.

“I am writing to seek for a release from my former club (Arua Hill) because I had a contract with them from 2020 to 2022. I am seeking for help from your office so that I can get a release from Arua Hill SC and join another club of my choice,” Media demanded, in a letter to FUFA dated 4th July.

Media was determined to leave home and try his luck elsewhere, the Arua-based club even offered him money and he just refused it!

“After expiry of my contract, the club management tried to talk to me to renew the contract but I refused, the coach offered sent me UGX5M via mobile money but I resent the money back,” Media revealed.

The prolific marksman had a stellar 2022/23 campaign with the Kongolo side, netting nine goals in 17 league matches to become the club’s top scorer of the season as Arua Hill finished in an impressive fourth position.

For the youngster, now is the appropriate time to move on. Media considers the Italy move a breakthrough. To him, it’s a rare opportunity to further his education and sports.

Media revealed that he first sat with his family and management and together they decided that leaving was the best option for him. Nothing was going to get in between the deal.

In Italy, Media will link up with two other Ugandans from West-Nile, Iddi Abdul Wahid and Oscar Mawa who have already spent a season at Calcio.