Al-Ittihad sign centre-back Luiz Felipe from Real Betis

Al-Ittihad completed the signing of central defender Luiz Felipe from Real Betis before the closing of the Saudi Arabia transfer window on Thursday.

The 26-year-old made the move to Real Betis from Lazio last summer, and he was an important player for the La Liga outfit during the 2022-23 campaign, featuring on 30 occasions in all competitions.

Felipe has also played four times for the Green and Whites this season, but he has been allowed to make the move to Al-Ittihad.

There have been suggestions that the Saudi outfit have paid €25m (£21.4m) to sign him on a four-year contract.

Felipe started his professional career with Ituano before moving to Lazio, and he featured on 144 occasions for the Italian giants ahead of his switch to Spain with Real Betis.

Welcome Luiz Felipe 🐅 pic.twitter.com/IJlgtZdz73

— Ittihad Club (@ittihad_en) September 7, 2023

Earlier this month, Real Betis head coach Manuel Pellegrini said that "it would be really irresponsible" for the club to sell Felipe past the transfer deadline due to the lack of centre-backs in the squad.

"I don't think we will sell Luiz Felipe now as it would be really irresponsible. We can't sell him now, otherwise we'd just have two centre backs in the squad, so I don't expect any movement," he said.

Felipe has joined the reigning Saudi Pro League champions, with Al-Ittihad finishing five points clear of second-placed Al-Nassr at the top of the division last season.

Nuno Espirito Santo's side have also made a strong start to this campaign, picking up 12 points from five matches to sit third in the table, although they lost 4-3 to Al-Hilal last time out.

Al-Ittihad also managed to sign N'Golo Kante, Fabinho, Karim Benzema and Jota during a standout transfer window, although the latter's future is already the subject of much speculation.