Experienced Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone has signed a two-year contract with Lille from Lorient, the northern club announced in a press release on Tuesday. The 35-year-old doorman, discovered by Arsenal and passed in particular by the clubs of Sunderland (England), Minnesota United (American MLS), Esbjerg (Denmark) and Monaco (L1), should play in the North the understudy of the young and talented Lucas Knight (21 years old). The amount of his transfer has not been revealed.
Lille was looking for “an element of experience and talent capable of being ready and performing at all times”, underlines the press release. “His high standards and his perfect knowledge of high-level football will be a valuable asset for the Lille squad,” adds LOSC.
Mannone, who has never played in the Italian Serie A, is the 7th reinforcement recorded this summer by LOSC after the Portuguese Tiago Santos and Ivan Cavaleiro, the Icelandic international Hakon Haraldsson, the Algerian international Nabil Bentaleb, the world champion Frenchman Samuel Umtiti and Argentinian Ignacio Miramón. Lille, heavily beaten on Sunday in Lorient (4-1), is playing its Europa League Conference return dam on Thursday against Rijeka in Croatia (2-1 in the first leg).