Euro 2016 winner Fonte joins French Lille from CSL Dalian Yifang

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Portugal's veteran central defender Jose Fonte has joined French Ligue 1 outfit Lille after a brief spell in China which followed a decade in the English Premier league.

Fonte closed his two-year deal earlier this week with Dalian Yifang of Chinese Super League (CSL), which he actually joined for five months.

The 34-year-old, who played 35 times for Portugal, enjoyed six seasons at Southampton, three at Crystal Palace and also had a spell with West Ham. Since February, he made nine competitive appearances in CSL and later started all four of Portugal's matches at the World Cup in Russia.

He was on the pitch when Portugal won the Euro 2016 tournament and was also in their World Cup squad this year.

"Lille are happy to announce a deal with Jose Fonte until 2020," Lille said on Friday.

Lille ended a nightmare 2017-2018 season clinging on to top flight football with a late rally of results after going into the campaign tipped to do well.

For Fonte, he said he is "very proud of this great French club."

"This is a new challenge for me, which I hope will be very successful. I will give everything to help the club as best as possible in its ambitious project."

(Top picture: VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP