Real Madrid confirmed the signing of Portsmouth midfielder Lassana Diarra on Sunday.

The 23-year-old French international has agreed a contract that will keep him at the Spanish club until the end of June 2013.

Although the club has not revealed the price, Real Madrid is thought to have paid somewhere in the region of 20 million euros (27.8 million U.S. dollars) for Diarra, who had also played for both Chelsea and Arsenal.

Diarra will be officially presented to the fans and the press in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium on Monday afternoon.

He is Real Madrid's third signing for the winter transfer window along with striker Jan Klaas Huntelaar and midfielder Dani Parejo, who returned from a loan deal at English team Queen Park Rangers.

(Xinhua News Agency December 22, 2008)