Sevilla have confirmed the signing of midfielder Nemanja Gudelj on a free transfer from Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande.

The Serbian international had been plying his trade in China after leaving Ajax for Tianjin TEDA in 2017. He then signed for Guangzhou in the summer of 2018, but after just a single year, Gudelj then joined Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon on a loan deal for the 2018/19 season.

He becomes the club's 10th new signing this summer, with head coach Julen Lopetegui spending over €115m on the likes of Diego Carlos, Lucas Ocampos, Oliver Torres and Luuk de Jong.

Who is Nemanja Gudelj?

Capped 22 times by Serbia, Gudelj started his career with  NAC Breda, after moving to the Netherlands at the age of ten.

Although he did not make an appearance for Breda, his potential was picked up upon by fellow Eredivisie team AZ Alkmaar, who paid €3m for his services in 2013.

The central midfield player impressed at AZ, scoring 19 goals in 88 appearances, and in the summer of 2015, he signed for giants Ajax. 

Gudelj was an ever-present in the 2015/16 season, but quickly fell out of favour at Ajax, and headed to China with Tianjin for a fee of €5.5m in January 2017.

After just a single season he moved to the south of the country with Guangzhou Evergrande, where he was part of the side that won the Chinese FA Super Cup in 2018.

A successful return to Europe

Sporting Lisbon head coach Marcel Keizer brought Gudelj back to Europe at the start of last season, and he was a key component in the team that won both the Taça da Liga and the Taça de Portugal, the nation's two cup competitions, earlier this year.

However the Lisbon side did not exercise the opportunity to make Gudelj's stay a permanent one, and the midfielder has now been snapped up by a Sevilla team that are looking to get themselves back into the mix for the Champions League places, after finishing sixth in La Liga last season.

Gudelj's arrival also puts the future of midfielders Roque Mesa and Nolito into question, as Julen Loptegui is looking to offload players in his squad in an attempt to improve their transfer net spend for the summer.

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