Bradford City have signed Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu in a �1m deal.

The 32-year-old Romanian international, who lost his first-team place at Chelsea last season, has signed a four-year deal with the Bantams.

Bradford swooped for Petrescu after he failed to agree personal terms with Southampton and the deal was done within 24 hours.

Bradford chairman Geoffrey Richmond announced the deal and also revealed that Middlesbrough made a late bid to sign the Romanian.

'Great aquisition'

Bradford chairman Geoffrey Richmond announed the signing, adding: "A lot of hard work was done in less than 24 hours over the weekend to get Dan here to join Bradford.

"He will prove to be a great acquisition to the team."

Bradford have missed out on a couple of transfer targets recently.

Swedish international Niclas Alexandersson opted to join Everton while Sunderland's Nicky Summmerbee could not make up his mind about a �1.5 million move.

Petrescu has been frozen out at Stamford Bridge following a bust-up with boss Gianluca Vialli late last season and will follow David Hopkin, Peter Atherton and Ian Nolan into Valley Parade this summer.

The Romanian should have no problems settling in Yorkshire having spent the early days of his Premiership career with Sheffield Wednesday.

He insisted that this will be the final move of his career.