AS Monaco last night completed the signing of midfielder Pelé from Portuguese side Rio Ave for around €5m.
The 26-year-old is thought to be a direct replacement for Brazilian midfielder Fabinho, who they sold to Liverpool earlier this summer.
Pelé, a Guinea-Bissau international, won Rio Ave’s player of the year last season, scoring 7 goals in 31 appearances.
The Portuguese midfielder expressed his delight in securing the move to the Stade Louis II to the club’s website: “I am very happy to join Monaco, they are an ambitious club competing in the Champions League and a contender in Ligue 1. It is a great motivation and a dream to represent Monaco. I cannot wait to meet the staff and my team-mates”.
Pelé becomes the fourth signing of the summer for Monaco, following the €20m transfer of Willem Geubbels from Lyon, and the investments in youth starlets Robert Navarro and Jonathan Panzo from Barcelona and Chelsea respectively.
H.W.