Siyanda Xulu only won his battle to be released from Russian club FC Rostov last week, allowing the defender to be presented as Kaizer Chiefs' headline signing yesterday. Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung said it took the intervention of Fifa, the SA Football Players Union and Xulu's agent, Paul Mitchell, to finally have the player released from the year left on his contract."Siyanda's case was unique because he had the players' union also involved, making sure he got out of the challenges he was facing."Finally, last week Friday, with Fifa's intervention and the involvement of the agent, his release came through," Motaung said. "It's been months of battles for him, and for us to see if we could get him back to Chiefs was challenging."The 23-year-old Bafana Bafana centre-back endured a tough three years in Russia, initially earning game time, then suffering a racial slur.Then-coach Igor Gamula said in November last year that black players had spread the Ebola virus at his club and that, "we have enough dark-skinned players, we've got six of the things".Xulu said yesterday it was mostly his desire to get game time and break back into Bafana that motivated a move to Chiefs."I didn't want to stay longer in Russia, but I did want to stay for a number of seasons in Europe."Then I didn't play for eight months because of telling Rostov I intended to leave. I think coming to Chiefs will lead my path back to Europe."The financial issue and racial issue weren't a problem for me. I decided to come home because I wanted to get myself back into Bafana. I'm familiar with SA football, but I have to get back to its mentality. And I have to get back into shape, too."Motaung made a jibe at Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane. The Downs coach said in April he believed Downs' ex-player Xulu, a Chiefs youth development product, would "return home" to the Brazilians.Motaung said: "To quote Pitso Mosimane: 'The boy knows where his home is'. Thanks Pitso."..