Real Madrid have agreed a deal with Arsenal to take Spain forward Jose Antonio Reyes on loan for one season with Brazil's Julio Baptista moving in the other direction, the Spanish Primera Liga club said on Friday.
"Real and Arsenal have reached agreement tonight to exchange the playing rights of Reyes and Baptista for the 2006/7 season," the club said in a statement on their website.
The deal includes an option for the clubs to buy the respective players at the end of the season-long loans.
Reyes, 22, had long been a target for the nine-times European champions and the player had made no secret of his desire to return to Spain.
"I am the happiest person in the world. I was on edge until I actually signed the contract," Reyes told Radio Marca.
Reyes is the fifth player to join Real since Ramon Calderon was elected president following Italy's World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, Brazil midfielder Emerson, Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra.
He becomes only the second Spanish player to join Real in the last five years, the first being his former Sevilla team mate defender Sergio Ramos who signed for close to 30 million euros last season.
INCONSISTENT PERFORMER
Arsenal paid a club record fee of around 17 million pounds for Reyes in January 2004, but although he produced flashes of the brilliance he showed at Sevilla, his performances for the Londoners have remained inconsistent.
Reyes admitted finding it difficult to adjust to England and the style of football in the Premiership and in February 2005 he told a bogus radio interviewer claiming to be a Real Madrid representative that he would like to play for the Spanish club.
Despite his reservations he signed a new six-year contract with Arsenal in July 2005 after helping the team win the FA Cup final.
Reyes has won 21 caps for Spain, but was left out of the squad for Euro 2004 and made just one appearance at the recent World Cup, playing 69 minutes of Spain's 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in their final group match.
Real's 24-year-old midfielder-cum-forward Baptista, who has failed to make it into new coach Fabio Capello's plans, was a target for Arsenal before he joined Real from Sevilla last year in a deal worth $24.20 million.
He scored 50 goals in all competitions in his two years with Sevilla but struggled to land a regular first-team place at Real last season.
Baptista joins Jonathan Woodgate, Thomas Gravesen and Pablo Garcia in the Real clear out under Capello.