Franck Ribéry has joined Fiorentina on a free transfer, after leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season.

The Serie A side confirmed the French winger’s arrival on their official website, adding that Ribéry will be presented at a press conference on Thursday, before his official unveiling at the Stadio Artemio Franchi that evening.

Earlier on Wednesday, the club had posted live footage of the 36-year-old arriving in Florence by private jet. Wearing the team’s purple shirt and holding up a scarf, Ribéry said “I’m happy. Fiorentina are a big team, in a beautiful city.” He added that his former Bayern teammate, Luca Toni, had encouraged him to move to Florence.

Kevin-Prince Boateng, who joined Fiorentina from Sassuolo this summer after his loan spell at Barcelona ended, tweeted a picture of himself with Ribéry, captioned “he is here … welcome mon frere”.

Ribéry spent 12 years at Bayern Munich after joining from Marseille in 2007 and won nine Bundesliga titles, six German Cups and the Champions League in 2013. The winger has 81 France caps, scoring 16 international goals.

Fiorentina finished 16th in Serie A last season, only narrowly avoiding relegation, but were bought by Rocco Commisso, CEO of cable TV company Mediacom, in June. The club have also signed Lazio midfielder Milan Badelj, Bologna’s Erick Pulgar and Sassuolo full-back Pol Lirola in a busy summer of recruitment.

Slimani joins Monaco on loan

Leicester City forward Islam Slimani has joined Monaco on a season-long loan deal.

Slimani is leaving the King Power Stadium on loan for the third time since joining Leicester in 2016 for £29m. The 31-year-old has previously been loaned to Newcastle United and Fenerbahce.

The striker enjoyed Africa Cup of Nations success this summer with Algeria but has struggled for first-team football in the Premier League, scoring 13 goals in 46 games for Leicester, and making just four appearances for Newcastle in 2018.

Monaco will hope Slimani can score the goals to lift them up the table after starting Ligue 1 with consecutive 3-0 defeats, and he could make his debut against Nîmes this weekend.