Villarreal have re-signed former Manchester United defender Eric Bailly on an 18-month contract following his release by Besiktas.
The Ivory Coast centre-back, 29, left the Turkish club on Friday, just three months after moving from Old Trafford.
Paren las rotativas. Vuelve la perilla más característica jamás vista en Vila-real. Vuelve el tackle preferido del fútbol champagne. Vuelve el muro de Bingerville. Vuelve Eric Bailly. pic.twitter.com/EBBr13WqNz
— Villarreal CF (@VillarrealCF) December 30, 2023
He played only eight times for Besiktas and was one of five players excluded from the first-team squad this month.
Bailly played for Villarreal during the 2015-16 season before joining Manchester United for £30m.
His final appearance for Besiktas was against Fenerbahce on 9 December.
Two days later the defender – along with team-mates Vincent Aboubakar, Rachid Ghezzal, Jean Onana and Valentin Rosier – was dropped for what the Turkish club described as “poor performance” and “incompatibilities within the team”.
Bailly’s agent Rafaela Pimenta responded by saying the player “had done nothing wrong” and that his “rights are being violated and we will make sure to protect him”.
The centre-back spent seven seasons at Old Trafford after becoming Jose Mourinho’s first signing, but a combination of injury and lack of form restricted him to only 113 appearances.