ACF Fiorentina has confirmed the signing of French winger Franck Ribery on a free transfer.
The 36-year old has been without a club since leaving German giants Bayern Munich at the end of last season.
The winger who has been capped 81 times by France having represented them in four major tournaments, will bring a wealth of experience at the top level to head coach Vincenzo Montella's squad. Ribery won a total of 24 trophies in his 12 years with Bayern, including nine Bundesliga titles, six DFB Pokals and the UEFA Champions League in 2013.
In terms of personal accolades, the Bayern legend's list is also lengthy, with three French Player of the Year awards, one German Player of the Year and most notably the UEFA Best Player in Europe award in 2013.
A change of fortunes in Florence?
Fiorentina had a bitterly disappointing Serie A campaign in 2018/19, narrowly avoiding relegation by finishing 16th.
But the club has now been bought over by Italian-American businessman Rocco Commisso, who is also the owner of the US soccer side, the New York Cosmos.
Commisso is reported to have paid €160 million to buy the club, and subsequently, the club has been busy improving the squad for the coming season.
Ribery is the second high-profile name to arrive at the Stadio Artemio Franchi this summer, following the signing of midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who won the Scudetto with AC Milan in 2011 and the La Liga title last season during a short loan spell with Barcelona.
Reinforcements
Chilean midfielder Erik Pulgar has joined the club for €10 million from Bologna, whilst Croatian international midfielder Milan Badelj has re-joined the Florence side, signing on a one-year loan deal with an obligation to buy from rivals Lazio.
Further new faces have come in the form of young Serbian full-back Aleksa Terzic from Red Star Belgrade, and Danish defender Jacob Ramussen, who has now joined up with Montella's squad after spending the second half of last season with Empoli.
Montella will now hope that Ribery's arrival will round off a successful transfer window for the club, which has also seen La Viola retain the services of key players Federico Chiesa and Nikola Milenkovic.
Fiorentina will now aim to put last season's disappointments behind them and target a return to Europe, as well looking for a better run in the Coppa Italia, an honour which they haven't won since 2001 in what was the club's last major trophy.