Denilson Pereira Neves has signed for his former club Sao Paulo. The manager of Sao Paulo, Ney Franco, confirmed his signing yesterday.

Denilson has signed a 4-year deal with the Brazilian club.

Sao Paulo is the club where Denilson had begun his career. He had joined Sao Paulo as 10 years old boy in 1998. He played for the junior team for a few years before making his first team debut in 2005.

Denilson remained a part of Sao Paulo first team for just one season, but, in that one season, he won a couple of trophies i.e. FIFA Club World Cup and Copa Libertadores.
In July 2006, Denilson was sold to Arsenal. The Gunners paid a transfer fee of 3.4 million Pounds for buying him.

It was a surprise signing for many people as Denilson had not that much experience of club football at that time.

Denilson didn’t get that many playing opportunities in his first season for Arsenal, but, in the next couple of seasons, he put up some solid performances and became a regular member of the starting XI.

However, he couldn’t carry on that form in the 2010-11 season and lost his place to Jack Wilshere in the starting XI.

At the start of the 2011-12 season, Denilson was placed on loan to Sao Paulo. He didn’t come back to Arsenal in the next season and continued to be on loan to his boyhood club.

In some of his interviews in the last season, Denilson had indicated that he would like to make a permanent move to Sao Paulo. So, this signing would not have surprised too many people.

Confirming Denilson’s signing, Ney Franco said, “Denilson has been quite good for us in the last couple of seasons. It’s wonderful to have him in the side on a permanent basis now. Hopefully, he will continue to be consistent in future as well.”