Makelele keen to share wisdom at PSG

Holding midfielder Claude Makelele has returned to France to join Paris Saint-Germain FC on a five-year contract, which will include time spent on the coaching staff, after a successful five seasons at Chelsea FC.

Former internationals
The 35-year-old Makelele made the move after being released from his contract a year early by Chelsea.  A statement from the UEFA Champions League runners-up reads: "He will always be welcomed back at Stamford Bridge in the future either as a player or a friend of the club." The player said at his unveiling: "I'm not the saviour of the club just a messenger who will try to pass on to the younger players in the squad what I learned when I was starting out. I'm very happy to have signed this contract and I hope that this season will be better than the last [for PSG]."

Ten-year absence
Makelele has not played for a French club since his final match for Olympique de Marseille – a 0-0 draw against RC Strasbourg on 25 April 1998. A Ligue 1 winner with FC Nantes Atlantique in 1994/95, he left Marseille for RC Celta de Vigo in the summer of 1998. Having joined Real Madrid CF in 2000, he won two Spanish titles and the 2002 UEFA Champions League before moving to Chelsea in 2003. At Stamford Bridge he claimed two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups and last pulled on the blue shirt in Moscow in May.

France team-mates
Born in Kinshasa, Makelele has long been regarded as one of the world's finest holding players, but announced his retirement from international football after UEFA EURO 2008™ having won 71 caps. He will join another newly-signed former France player at PSG, with Ludovic Giuly having left AS Roma for the French capital on Friday. Defender Lilian Thuram may yet join PSG too, subject to tests on a heart condition. The club will compete in the first round of the UEFA Cup as losing French Cup finalists.