As of Friday night, reports indicated that Simba SC was in a good position to secure the signing of midfielder Balla Moussa Conté from Tunisia's CS Sfaxien after agreeing to offer him a two-year contract. However, on Saturday morning, a surprising turn of events occurred.
Yanga SC swooped in and sealed the deal directly, offering the player a two-year contract, which caused major drama in Kariakoo, igniting tensions between the two historic Tanzanian football clubs.
According to Transfermarkt, a website that tracks football statistics including player market values, Conté is currently valued at €550,000—approximately TZS 1.7 billion.
Conté has been a key player for CS Sfaxien and was the team's first-choice midfielder during their 2024–2025 CAF Confederation Cup campaign, which ended at the group stage.
On Friday, July 11, 2025, reports confirmed that Simba had reached a deal to sign the 21-year-old Guinean defensive midfielder, who has one year remaining on his contract with Sfaxien, ending in 2026.
Before the deal could be finalized, Simba was shocked to learn that Yanga had aggressively intervened and were close to snatching the player away.
The news quickly reached Simba head coach Fadlu Davids, who immediately made a call to verify the situation through Simba goalkeeper Moussa Camara—Conté’s national teammate—asking if the player had really slipped through their fingers.
Upon learning that Sfaxien had not yet agreed to a deal with Yanga, Davids reached out to Simba’s billionaire owner, Mohammed Dewji "MO," urging him to step in and rescue the transfer.
MO acted swiftly to support his coach, who had delivered impressive work in the past season, and made a massive financial offer.
“We were getting calls saying Simba’s big boss wanted to speak with us. We waited, and yes, he called. We had a discussion and he asked to be connected to the Sfaxien president,” said one of Conté’s representatives, as quoted by Mwanaspoti.
“We had a good talk, and in the end, we left the two clubs to finalize things between themselves.”
While Simba was still maneuvering, the same representative confirmed that Yanga had moved ahead in negotiations with Sfaxien and were now in a better position to sign Conté.
The source emphasized that although Simba initially had the upper hand, Yanga acted faster and completed the deal. Therefore, the representative believes the player will arrive in Tanzania to join the historical giants, Yanga.
In the just-ended season, Conté played 23 matches in the Tunisian Premier League for Sfaxien and received seven yellow cards.
He also featured in six CAF Confederation Cup matches, including two group-stage games against Simba, and appeared in two Arab Club Champions Cup matches.
Overall, Conté has played a total of 34 league matches for CS Sfaxien.
