Madrid - Villarreal announced on Friday afternoon the sale of Rio Mavuba from Spain to French club Lille, where he has been on loan since February. The defensive midfielder failed to adapt to the Spanish league La Liga and started only one league game between August - when he joined from Girondins Bordeaux - and February.
According to the Marca sports daily, Lille will pay Villarreal around seven million euros (10.86 million dollars) for Mavuba, about the same as Villarreal paid Bordeaux for him last summer.
Marca also said that the next transfer target for Villarreal - who finished second in Spain last season - will be Porto's Argentine international Lucho Gonzalez.
