Ligue 1 giants Olympique Lyonnais have confirmed the signing of Brazilian defender Rafael from Manchester United, BBC Sport reports.
The transfer was confirmed via the French club’s official Twitter account on Monday evening as the 25-year-old has put pen-to-paper on a four-year deal with last season’s runners-up in Ligue 1.
Accord pour le transfert de Rafael da Silva qui va signer un contrat de 4 ans => http://t.co/VJQWOuMMEn #teamOL pic.twitter.com/1aGzLTUE4l
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) August 3, 2015
Rafael’s departure from Old Trafford had been widely tipped following the arrival of Italian international Matteo Darmian at the club earlier in the summer and manager Louis van Gaal’s comments that Antonio Valencia would be the first-choice right-back for the new season.
The Brazilian struggled with a series of injuries last season and that limited him to just 10 league appearances for the Red Devils and his last taste of action for the 20 times champions of England came in the 3-0 victory over Tottenham back in March as he came on as a late substitute.
In his time in Manchester, Rafael collected three Premier League winner’s medals and will be hoping to help his new club bridge the gap to Paris Saint-Germain this season.
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