Former Sunderland loanee Frederik Alves has completed a deadline day move to Danish club Brondby.
The 22-year-old centre-back joined the Black Cats from West Ham on a season-long deal in the summer but he failed to pin down a place in Lee Johnson's side and was recalled by the Hammers earlier this month.
But the Denmark U21 international he has now made a permanent move back to his homeland, signing a four-and-a-half year deal with the club who currently sit third in the Danish Superliga.
Alves made a total of ten appearances during his short stay with Sunderland, only three of which came in the league and all of those were from the bench.
His seven starts all came in the cup competitions.
When he left Sunderland to return to West Ham, Black Cats sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said: "Throughout Freddie's loan, we have remained in regular dialogue with him and West Ham United regarding his programme.
"He's progressed and he's matured off the pitch, but he's missing the frequency of games required at this stage of his development and we collectively understand the need for him to be playing regular football.
"Having reviewed this with his parent club, we agreed that it is the natural solution for him to return in January to plan out the second part of the season.
"We thank West Ham United and we wish Freddie well in his career."
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