Newcastle United announce arrival of new signing Florian Lejeune

Newcastle United have announced the signing of defender Florian Lejeune from Eibar on a five-year deal.

The 26-year-old, who was on Manchester City's books for a year in 2015-16, is believed to have cost the Magpies around £8.7m.

"I'm very happy to have signed," Lejeune told the club's official website. "Newcastle United is a big club, and I'm very happy to be here. When you have a manager like Rafael Benitez who wants you, you are very happy to come. Since I've been in touch with the manager, it was an easy decision for me to come here."

Benitez added: "I would like to welcome Florian to Newcastle United. He is a player that has done very well this year in Spain. I have known about him for a while, since he began playing for Villarreal.

"He has progressed a lot as a player in the last few years and I know he will give us something different at the back - he is good with both feet, he's big and he's good in the air also. If he settles well into English football then I am sure he will be a success and will give us a lot of competition in this area."

The Frenchman began his career at Agde and went on to play for Istres, Villarreal, Girona, Man City and then Eibar for a season before moving to St James' Park.

Lejeune is the second signing of the summer following the permanent acquisition of Christian Atsu from Chelsea.