Cavenaghi set for River Plate return

Argentine striker Fernando Cavenaghi is free to return to his formative club River Plate after Bordeaux announced on Friday that they were releasing him from his contract.

Bordeaux said that they would "retain an economic interest in future transactions concerning the player", who has already agreed a deal to join the newly relegated Buenos Aires giants.

The 27-year-old, who joined Bordeaux in 2007, was loaned out twice last season - to Spanish outfit Real Mallorca and then Brazilian side Internacional.

Cavenaghi, who came through the youth ranks at River, was the top scorer at the Under-20 World Cup in 2003.

He joined Russian side Spartak Moscow in 2004 before pitching up at Bordeaux, for whom he scored 33 goals in 83 league matches and with whom he won the 2008-09 Ligue 1 championship.

River, 33-time Argentine champions, were relegated to the country's second tier for the first time in their 110-year history last month.