FC Porto have signed Marseille midfielder Giannelli Imbula for €20 million on a contract that runs until 2020.
Porto beat out European giants
The 22-year-old has been linked with the likes of Chelsea, Inter and Southampton in recent weeks, but decided to sign for the Portuguese side that recently just let go of Colombian striker Jackson Martinez to Atletico Madrid in Spain.
He follows Dimitri Payet, who's currently at West Ham, Andre Ayew at Swansea, Jeremy Morel at Lyon and Andre-Pierre Gignac at Tigres in Mexico to leave Marcelo Bielsa's side this summer.
Porto confirmed the deal had been completed on Wednesday and revealed they had put in a €50m buyout clause in his contract to keep him out of other clubs' sight in the future.
Why he decided to sign
"I am delighted to have signed for Porto," the player told on his new club's official website. "The sporting project here seduced me. This is a club who have won many European trophies in their history, they have a great team and hopefully it will be even better with my contribution.''
"I talked to the coach Julen Lopetegui two or three times and he convinced me to come. He told me who the team's style of play suits my qualities. I'm so glad to be here and I want to win many titles here.
"Porto is not known to throw money at young players so no one can say I came here because of money. I came here, instead, because of the trust placed in me by the coach and the club.
"Leaving Marseille to come here feels like a step up in my career and hopefully I can fulfil all the expectations Porto have about my future."
This is the third club for the player and his first one abroad having played 76 matches and scored three goals for Marseille in two seasons with the club as he joined in 2013 from Guingamp where he played four years, 101 matches and four goals to his name.