Fenerbahce sign Roberto Carlos

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June 06, 2007 15:07 IST

Former Brazil international Roberto Carlos has agreed to join Turkish champions Fenerbahce from Real Madrid at the end of the season.

The 34-year-old left back had said in March he would leave Real Madrid at the end of the season after 11 years at the club.

"Yes, I will be playing in Turkey at Fenerbahce," he told Spanish sports daily Marca on Wednesday.

"They are the club that have shown most interest in signing me and they convinced me with their project. They have spoken to me lots of times and a very important element in helping me make my decision was that Zico is their coach.

"I had a lot of offers from Italy, England and other countries but Fenerbahce want to grow as a club and I was keen to help them.

"I think that it is the right time and as I said I want to leave the way open at Real Madrid so that they can begin a new cycle and bring in some new players."

A World Cup winner in 2002, Roberto Carlos joined Real from Inter Milan in 1996 during Fabio Capello's first spell as coach at the club.

Since then he has been a fixture in the first team and played a key role in helping Real win three European Cups, three league titles and two World Club Cups.

He has played more games for the club than any other foreign-born player and has scored 46 league goals.

Roberto Carlos quit international soccer after Brazil's 1-0 World Cup quarter-final defeat by France last year.

The defender had wanted to join Fenerbahce last season but had been unable to do so because of his Real Madrid contract, the Istanbul club's Web site quoted his agent Dino Pasalic as saying.

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