Newcastle United defender believes he has already made his final St James' Park appearance

The 26-year-old featured regularly for the Magpies during pre-season but was told he could leave again this summer after spending last season at Watford. Lewis had been open to returning to the Championship - that was until Sao Paulo registered their interest.

"It was the night our window shut, my agent informed me that Sao Paulo could be interested and he said it could move quite quickly,” Lewis revealed.

Without hesitation, Lewis jumped on a flight to Brazil, becoming one of a select few British players to play in the country’s top division.

“I’ve always been one to test myself,” he added. “I've never wanted to stay and then look back on my career and think ‘what if I did this’ or ‘what if I did that’, so I think this will pay dividends and hopefully will be the start of a great journey."

"Obviously the club is very historic and even though I haven’t stepped onto the pitch yet, the fans have shown the passion and love they have for their club.

Some people probably thought it was quite random and out of the blue, and I can’t argue with that, but if Sao Paulo were interested in my profile as a player and I’m interested in representing such a big club, it could be the start of a great journey. When this came up I grabbed it with both hands."

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Lewis has joined the Brazilian giants on a season-long loan deal with an option to make the arrangement permanent next summer.

The left-back has made 36 appearances for Newcastle since arriving from Norwich City for £15million in 2020. He admits his St James’ Park outing against Stade Brestois last month is likely to be his last.

“I've spoken to the manager and I'm in my last year and I've done a season-long loan, so that kind of has the writing on the wall,” Lewis said on his United future. “But if Sao Paulo can be my long-term home for the future, that would be amazing.”