Ukraine's Dević swaps Metalist for Shakhtar

Ukraine forward Marko Dević has joined FC Shakhtar Donetsk from FC Metalist Kharkiv as he looks to make the final cut to compete at UEFA EURO 2012.

The Serbian-born player signed a four-year deal with the Ukrainian champions after returning from a national team training camp in Turkey. No details have been released of any transfer fee, but Metalist coach Myron Markevich said that Shakhtar triggered a buy-out clause in the 28-year-old's contract to bring him to the Donbass Arena, where Ukraine will play their Group D games against France and England on 15 and 19 June respectively.

Born in Belgrade, Dević – who has scored twice in 18 games for Ukraine – first moved to his adopted home country in 2005 to join SC Volyn Lutsk. In 2006, he moved on to Metalist, where he scored 64 goals in 148 league games and eight more in 34 European appearances. During that period, Metalist finished third in the Ukrainian league six times in a row. His new club will begin their 2012/13 UEFA Champions League campaign in the group stage.