Article #78772

• Experienced Belgium right-back signs two-year deal

• Competing in Europa League was ‘big factor’ in move

Sunderland have completed the signing of the experienced Belgium right-back Thomas Meunier on a two-year deal as Régis Le Bris’s team step up preparations for a second successive season in the Premier League alongside a Europa League campaign.

Meunier, who has just returned from the World Cup, has been capped 83 times by Belgium and was a free agent after the expiration of his contract at Lille. The 34-year-old is Sunderland’s first summer signing.