Nuno Valente zu Everton

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Porto star Valente joins Everton

Valente is regarded highly by Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari

Portugal defender Nuno Valente has joined Everton from FC Porto for £1.5m. The 30-year-old left-back flew to London on Saturday and has agreed a three-year contract with the Toffees and passed a medical on Sunday. Valente fell out of favour at Porto after reportedly refusing to retire from international football.

"I am disillusioned with a lot of people. I deserved to leave in a better way considering all I have done for Porto," he told O Jogo newspaper.

"The club has its reasons and I have mine. I prefer my opinion to theirs."

Everton boss David Moyes was keen to bring in a left-sided defender after injuries to Gary Naysmith and Alessandro Pistone. Valente, who has won 18 caps for his country, was a key player as Porto won the Champions League in 2004 and Portugal reached the final of Euro 2004. He was recalled after a five-month absence by national team coach Luiz Felipe Scolari this week for next month's World Cup qualifiers against Luxembourg and Russia. Porto were unhappy that he chose to continue playing for his country after an injury on international duty last September kept him out for five months. They insisted he would suffer more problems but

Scolari said: "He is a player with a lot of character, a lot of personality, who knows what he wants. As to his physical and psychological condition, we will examine that when we begin training for the matches."

quelle: bbc