Pune, Aug 27 (IANS): Pune Football Club Wednesday signed Sporting Clube de Goa captain Matthew Gonsalves for the upcoming I-League season.

The highly-experienced Goan joins Pune FC after spending 10 years with Sporting and will be a valuable addition to Karim Bencherifa’s squad. The defender thus becomes the sixth new player signed this season after Ryuji Sueoka, Luciano Sabrosa, Snehashis Chakraborty, Raju Yumnam and Jessel Carneiro.

“Matthew gave us a torrid time when we played against him last year. He is an versatile defender with a never say die attitude and he will be a valuable addition to our squad," Pune FC head operations Chirag Tanna said.

Matthew spent his early days playing for various local teams. However, his career took off when he was signed by Sporting Goa from Mormugao Port Trust in 2004. Since then, the 35-year-old has been the mainstay of Sporting for 10 seasons in a row while also captaining the side.

During his long stint at Sporting, Matthew represented Goa in the 2008 Santosh Trophy and was also a part of the India team at the Special Olympics Asia Pacific.

At Pune FC, Matthew becomes the fourth Goan in the squad this season joining state-mates Anthony D’Souza, Velington Rocha and the recently signed Carneiro.