AS Saint-Etienne have completed the signing of French international midfielder Yann M'Vila.
M'Vila, 27, returns to France after five years away, joining Les Verts from the Russian club Rubin Kazan, who had released him from his contract. He has put pen to paper on a deal until the end of next season at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
"I am delighted to be coming back to France and to Ligue 1 with a coach, Jean-Louis Gasset, who I know especially well. I hope to achieve great things with ASSE," said M'Vila, the former Stade Rennais FC midfielder. "My objectives are just to play the maximum number of matches, to play well and help the team have a good second half of the season."
M'Vila, who has also had loan spells at Internazionale and Sunderland, has won 22 caps for France, although the last of those came against Spain at Euro 2012. It was then that he worked under Gasset, who was assistant to France coach Laurent Blanc at the time.
Saint-Etienne are hovering just above the relegation zone ahead of their first Ligue 1 Conforama outing of 2018 against Toulouse FC on Sunday.
