Former West Ham midfielder Morgan Amalfitano has joined Lille on a free transfer agreeing to a two and a half year contract with the Ligue 1 side.

“It makes me extremely happy to join a club like Lille, who are well-known in Ligue 1,” he told the club’s official website. “For me, they are in the top five French teams. I’ll be very happy if I can help them continue to climb the rankings. Time will tell if I have made the right choice but I don’t have many doubts about that.”

Amalfitano is believed to have picked up a cool £2.5 million pay off after being dumped by West Ham earlier this season after a fall out with Bilic. He appeared in the Claret and Blue shirt 32 times and scored three goals before managing to tick off manager Slaven Bilic soon after the manager’s arrival.

His £40,000 per week wages were worth up to £3.5m over the 21 months that remained on his contract.

Aston Villa were also linked to the 30 year old but he has decided to return to France.