West Ham announce young Brazilian defender Luizao will join from Sao Paulo in January on four-year deal

West Ham have announced the signing of 20-year-old defender Luizao on a four-year deal from Sao Paulo.

The young centre-back joins the Hammers for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance.

Luizao made his debut for the Brazilian giants in May of this year, and has since made 20 appearances and scored one goal.

That debut came in Sao Paulo’s Copa Sudamericana defeat against Chilean outfit Everton de Vina del Mar.

West Ham released an official statement to confirm the deal.

It read: “Everyone at West Ham United would like to welcome Luizao to the club and wish him every success in his career in claret and blue.”

The Daily Mail reports that the fee will only be “nominal” and that the Hammers have also asked about a potential deal for midfielder Pablo Maia.

The size of the fee is minimal chiefly, it is believed, because Luizao’s Sao Paulo contract was running down.

West Ham had been reportedly working on the deal for some time, while Juventus, Porto, Benfica and Fulham were all rumoured to be interested in signing him.

Luizao’s arrival comes after the Hammers’ signing of Brazilian international Lucas Paqueta from Lyon this summer.

West Ham have endured a difficult start to their Premier League campaign this season, winning just four of their opening 15 matches. They will no doubt hope that the arrival of Luizao will help propel them back up the table.

The left-footed centre back will not move straight into David Moyes’ first team though.

The Hammers confirmed in their statement that he will instead initially join up with the academy: “The 6’2 player will initially join Mark Robson’s developmental squad and continue his evolution at the Academy of Football.”

If he is to make the jump to the Premier League, Luizao will need to get ahead of the likes of Vladimiar Coufal, Kurt Zouma, Craig Dawson, Thilo Kehrer, Harrison Ashby and Nayef Aguerd in his new team’s defence.