Galatasaray signs 'best defender of French league,' Aurélien Chedjou

ISTANBUL

Turkish champions Galatasaray announced the transfer of Aurélien Chedjou from Lille May 30. AFP photo

Turkish champions Galatasaray made their first transfer for the coming season, signing Lille's Cameroonian defender Aurélien Chedjou May 30. The 26-year-old center back was chosen "the best defender of League 1" at the end of the current season.

A four-year contract was made with the player and the French club will receive 6.3 million euros as a transfer fee, the club said in a statement.

Chedjou will be paid 2.2 million euros a year and another 10,000 euros per match played. The defender had been playing in Lille since the 2007-08 season and was one of the key elements when the northern club won the French league in 2011 after a more-than-half-century drought.