Monaco have signed Dutch international goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg (right) from Fulham on a season-long loan.
The 31-year-old, who was first choice for the Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup, will provide competition for Croatia’s Danijel Subasic. He played just 11 league games for Fulham last season as they were relegated from the Premier League to the Championship.
Monaco had been expected to sign former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes after the Spaniard became a free agent at the end of last season, but they pulled out of the deal after he tore his cruciate knee ligament in March.
His signing comes too late to be eligible for the Principality outfit’s Ligue 1 opener against Lorient today, with new Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim looking for his side to translate their impressive pre-season form into a successful start to their Ligue 1 campaign.
Monaco won five and drew the other of their six friendlies during the summer, including beating the likes of Arsenal and Parma, to leave Jardim in optimistic mood.
“The team is confident after the six friendlies,” he said. “We will do everything to play a good quality of football.
“We’ve worked hard for six weeks to be ready.”
Elsewhere, Lyon boss Hubert Fournier has revealed that new boy Lindsay Rose has a chance of lining up against Rennes today, but Henri Bedimo will definitely be sidelined.