Guingamp signing, Lille secure Beria

EA Guingamp have signed midfielder Lionel Mathis on a three-year contract from FC Sochaux-Montbéliard while fellow French UEFA Europa League hopefuls LOSC Lille Métropole have agreed a new deal with Franck Beria.

European experience
Guingamp, who qualified for the UEFA Europa League play-offs as the first second division French Cup winners since 1959, have signed the 28-year-old Mathis for an undisclosed fee following a successful loan spell last season. The player from the Parisian suburbs won two French Cups at AJ Auxerre, and also played 24 times in Europe, reaching the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 2004/05.

Additional year
Meanwhile Lille, who are 2-0 up from the away leg of their third qualifying round tie against Serbia's FK Sevojno, have agreed a one-year extension to 26-year-old defender Beria's contract, binding him to the northern side until June 2012. The club said that Beria "has become one of the key defenders" at Lille since signing from FC Metz in 2007, and that "he intends to help shape the club's European destiny".