Madrid, July 16 (DPA) European champions Barcelona late Wednesday announced the signing of left-back Maxwell from Inter Milan.

Barca will pay Inter around 4.5 million euros (6.28 million dollars) for the 27-year-old Brazilian, who will sign a five-year contract.

Maxwell, whose full name is Scherrer Cabelino Maxwell Andrade, joined Inter in 2006 after five seasons at Ajax and has helped the Milan club to win three Italian league titles.

He will occupy the squad berth left vacant by Sylinho, who has retired at age 35, and will compete for the left-back slot with Eric Abidal.

He is Barca's first summer signing. The Catalans originally wanted to replace Sylvinho with Luis Filipe from Deportivo Coruna, but lost interest when Deportivo asked for around 14 million euros for him.