Morris on the move to Santander

By Ed Aarons
BBC Sport

Nasief Morris will stay in Spain, at Racing Santander

South Africa defender Nasief Morris is to join La Liga side Racing Santander on a season-long loan.

The 28-year-old was due to complete a medical on Wednesday after rejecting interest from Real Valladolid and Real Betis.

He is expected to join up with his team-mates for training this week.

Racing are understood to have an option to purchase him from his parent club Panathinaikos at the end of the season.

"I'm very pleased - there were other options but I decided on Santander," Morris told BBC Sport.

"They're a very good team who played in the UEFA Cup last year and finished mid-table in the league so it's definitely a step forward from where I was last season."

He spent last season on loan at Recreativo Huelva but could not prevent them from being relegated, despite featuring in almost every match.

"It can be difficult to change clubs every season, but I have good experience of that so I think I will settle in quickly," he said.

Morris was shocked after he was surprisingly left out of Joel Santana's squad for the Confederations Cup but he has vowed to put that behind him as quickly as possible.

"It was very disappointing but that's history now."

"I'm looking forward to my future and working hard so I can get my place back in the national team for the World Cup.

"I haven't spoken to anyone since then but the situation was that I was just dropped for the tournament and that's it.

"I'm still a part of the squad so I just have to make them realise that I am good enough to be in the starting team."