As Luizão prepares to join West Ham United, the defender is about to have his final match for São Paulo at the weekend, according to reports from Brazil.
As written by the local media in the past few days, the 20-year-old is about to sign a pre-contract with the Hammers and complete a free move in January.
Now in an update from Jovem Pan journalist Gabriel Sá, it’s claimed that with an ‘advanced negotiation’ with West Ham, Luizão ‘should have his farewell from São Paulo on Sunday’.
The Tricolor will be facing Goiás in the final fixture of the Brazilian league, that being the last game of the Brazilian season.
Luizão’s contract with São Paulo only expires by the end of January, and the club will be playing the first few matches of the State Championship by then. However, since it’s known he’ll walk for free, there’d be no sense in keeping him in the squad for those games.
It’s just not known whether the Tricolor will hold him in Brazil until the end of his contract or if they’d let him travel to England before that. Since he’s joining the Hammers for free, that should only officially happen on the final days of January.
As reported by the Brazilian media today, West Ham even made an offer for São Paulo to keep 15% of a future transfer plus €1m in performance bonuses, just so they could have him early in the winter window.
The Tricolor, however, wanted more money for the sale, and didn’t even respond the Hammers. That’s why the situation doesn’t seem very friendly, and the player may indeed have to wait until the end of the contract to travel to London.
