Marseille signs World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard from Inter Milan

By Canadian Press on September 1, 2025.

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Marseille pulled off the biggest move of deadline day in Ligue 1 by signing 2018 World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard from Inter Milan on Monday.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed. According to L’Equipe newspaper, the French defender joined on loan and the deal includes a purchase option set at 15 million euros ($17.5 million).

The 29-year-old Pavard had been playing in Italy since 2023. He returns to the French league for the first time since leaving Lille in 2016. Pavard then spent three seasons at Stuttgart and won multiple titles over four seasons with Bayern Munich.

Pavard became the fourth 2018 World Cup winner to join the French league this summer, following Olivier Giroud (Lille), Paul Pogba (Monaco) and Florian Thauvin (Lens).

In their search for defensive reinforcements, Marseille also confirmed the arrival of Italy international Emerson Palmieri from West Ham.

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The Associated Press