Former Sunderland loanee Frederik Alves completes deadline day departure from West Ham United

The 22-year-old signed for Sunderland on a season-long loan deal in the summer but was unable to force his way into the starting XI on a regular basis.

Though a regular in the club's run to the Carabao Cup quarter finals, he never started a League One game for the Black Cats.

West Ham unsurprisingly opted to bring the arrangement to an early conclusion earlier in the window, and have now sanctioned a move for the central defender to return to Denmark.

Alves has joined on a permanent deal, signing a four-and-a-half year contract.

Brondby IF currently sit third in the Danish Superliga, five points off the top.

Sunderland have strengthened their defensive options with the signings of Trai Hume and Danny Batth this month, but could do more business on deadline day after Denver Hume's departure last week.

Speaking after Alves' recall, Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman said the club understood his desire to play regular football.

"Throughout Freddy’s loan, we have remained in regular dialogue with him and West Ham United regarding his programme," he said.

“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.”