Portugal left-back Fabio Coentrao has completed a loan move from Real Madrid to Sporting Lisbon.
Coentrao joined Madrid from Sporting's rivals Benfica for around €30 million in 2011, and has made 106 appearances for the Bernabeu outfit, picking up two La Liga winners medals and one Copa del Rey.
In recent seasons the now 29-year-old has rarely featured for Los Blancos, and had an up-and-down loan spell at Monaco in 2015-16, but now has a chance to get his career back on track in his home country.
Coentrao himself tweeted that he was "very happy to have an opportunity to play at his great club" as he and his family visited the Estadio Jose Avalade to complete the deal.
Muito feliz por ter a oportunidade de jogar neste grande clube pic.twitter.com/pLjty4mc8k
- Fabio Coentrao (@Fabio_Coentrao) July 5, 2017
Sporting also welcomed the Portugal international, who has 51 international caps, but did not feature for his country in their Euro 2016 success or this summer's Confederations Cup in Russia.
Welcome to the Lions, @Fabio_Coentrao! ? pic.twitter.com/gCJ2LgmLbl
- Sporting CP_en (@SportingCP_en) July 5, 2017
Reports in the Spanish and Portuguese media have claimed that Madrid will pay 90 percent of Coentrao's salary during his season at Sporting.
A close friend of Blancos superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Coentrao was in the headlines earlier this week when he paid €1.7m in back taxes and charges, as he became the latest Jorge Mendes client to run into trouble with Spain's tax authority.
