It's official - Kiwi star David Solomona is a Bradford Bull.

After months of speculation and weeks of hold-ups, the club today finally announced the deal, with boss Steve McNamara declaring: He'll be our X-factor.

Bulls have paid Wakefield £100,000 - with Brett Ferres already having moved the other way - and the world-class second-rower has put pen to paper on a three-year deal.

Money owed to him by his former club has held up business, sparking speculation the transfer could fall through and leave Bulls in a massive hole.

That issue is still to be resolved but Solomona, 28, has signed and will return from Auckland to start training at Grattan Stadium after his wife has given birth to their third child.

Ecstatic McNamara believes his star signing will be the Bulls' missing link in 2007.

"I'm absolutely over the moon to be able to get him on board," he said.

"It's been a fairly tough and long process to go through but David's abilities are unquestioned.

"His attacking qualities are unbelievable and there's probably only a handful of players in the competition who can give the X-factor that he does.

"He has the ability to create something out of nothing, give us that something different and that ability to break sides down in the really close games.

"David has a burning ambition to win a Premiership and is a fantastic signing for Bradford Bulls."

McNamara admits news of Solomona, who will bring a much-needed added dimension to the Bulls' attacking potential, has raised spirits in the Odsal camp as they bid to recapture their Super League crown next year.

There has been a backlash from some supporters though after McNamara allowed Ferres, 20, to leave as part of the deal.

The Academy product came of age this season, making 30 first-team appearances and grabbing nine tries.

That form saw him debut for England last month and he went on to be a big hit in their Federation Shield success.

Ferres was seen as one of Bradford's leading lights for seasons to come, having recently signed a new two-year deal, and some fans are disgruntled at seeing him depart in favour of another elder, overseas import. Stuart Reardon, Rob Parker, Leon Pryce, Lee Radford and, just last month, Karl Pryce are homegrown talents that have moved on to pastures new.

McNamara has had to stay quiet on the issue until Solomona's switch was confirmed but today he insisted: "I'm the biggest advocate for youth and young British players coming through bar none. "But also I've got a responsibility to do what is right and best for Bradford Bulls.

"This was the right thing to do in my opinion (releasing Ferres) and it had to be done to make this deal happen.

"I'll stand by that as head coach. We've got plenty of youngsters involved here. There's already people like Burgess, Cook and Kopczak while we're looking at Dave Halley this year too.

"I've got the utmost respect for Brett Ferres both as a person and as a player. It was an extremely tough decision in some ways for it to go this way but with the job of head coach comes responsibilities.

"When you look at who we have got in the back row, with the likes of Solomona, Morrison, Langley, McKenna, Cook and Burgess, along with the opportunity to play Ben Harris there, and then add in the fact Brett Ferres was the player Wakefield wanted, we had to make a football decision."

Wildcats came to the bargaining table with a wish-list also including England internationals Jamie Langley, 22, and Andy Lynch along with 19-year-old Huddersfield-born prop Craig Kopczak, all of which were turned down by the Bulls.