Oct 4th, 2017

Oct 4th, 2017

The long wait continues for Eric Bautheac's visa to be approved.

Yet Fahid Ben Khalfallah is in disbelief that Brisbane Roar have managed to sign the French attacker in the first place.

Still to arrive in Australia, nearly a month after his move was announced, Bautheac's recruitment has largely gone under the radar during the pre-season.

But there are few players in the competition with a similar pedigree and Ben Khalfallah has tipped the 30-year-old to take the A-League by storm once he arrives.

Bautheac has spent almost his entire career playing regularly at big French clubs like Nice, Cannes and Lille.

He has made 172 appearances in Ligue 1, scoring 26 goals and creating 25 assists.

He became available when Lille coach Marcelo Bielsa made a late call to release him on the eve of the new season.

With the Roar struggling to find a left-sided player to replace Thomas Broich at the time, Ben Khalfallah used his contacts and put to Bautheac a question he considered a 'Hail Mary'.

"It was just awesome, and I was a bit surprised when he said yes," Ben Khalfallah told AAP.

"Eric was hard because he was under contract with Lille and making good money. And he only just turned 30.

"Usually when a player comes to Australia, to be honest, no disrespect, but it's because they're getting older, or they don't play a lot, or they can't find a club.

"I was trying to do everything but at the end, he has to make the decision. It's not very easy.

"That's why I told him, I love this country.

"The level of the football is good and the lifestyle, I love it.

"When I spoke to people, they asked me how was it possible to get him?

"He got a lot of offers from France, Turkey, Russia. He's going to be really good."

Bautheac has been training with Cannes since leaving Lille but there is no indication when he will receive clearance to come to Australia.

His immigration paperwork is sitting with officials in Hobart but is yet to be processed, much to the frustration of the Roar.

It means Bautheac won't be involved in Friday night's A-League opener between Brisbane and Melbourne City at AAMI Park.

Although Ben Khalfallah is confident the delay will be worth it.

"It's a good thing for us that Bielsa didn't want him this year. I think we're lucky," he said.

©AAP2017