Lassana Diarra, who spent four seasons playing for Real Madrid, has signed a contract to play in Ligue 1 with Marseille.
The Frenchman has been out of football since leaving Lokomotiv Moscow last August and was unable to join another team because of a contract dispute with the Russian club. He had been linked with a return to the Premier League, where he played for Arsenal and Chelsea previously, but will instead return to France's top flight.
The club posted this tweet on Friday, confirming the signing:
Lassana Diarra est Olympien #MercatOM → http://t.co/tfLIRKfFWU #TeamOM pic.twitter.com/0UwuZVsgXY
- Olympique Marseille (@OM_Officiel) July 24, 2015
Diarra was an FA Cup winner with both Chelsea and Portsmouth during his time in England. A winter move to West Ham was scuppered because of his contract dispute with Lokomotiv, which has since been resolved.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.