The 22-year-old had a strong pre-season, scoring four times in Palace's warm-up fixtures, but it was not enough to convince the club's coaching staff he was ready for a regular role in the Premier League squad.
He remains under contract at Selhurst Park until 2028, and the move to Portugal is designed to give him another opportunity to rebuild momentum in his career away from south London.
França arrived at Palace from Flamengo in 2023 in a deal reported at the time to be worth around £26m, and last season was loaned to Vasco da Gama in Brazil's Serie A, where he made 24 appearances without fully establishing himself. It is not the first time Palace have opted to send him out on loan rather than integrate him into the first-team picture at home.
A product of the same Flamengo academy that has produced Vinícius Júnior, Lucas Paquetá and Zico, França captained his side to an Under-17 Brasileiro and Copa do Brasil double as a teenager before making his senior debut in December 2021.
He went on to win both the Copa Libertadores and Copa do Brasil with the Rio de Janeiro club in 2022, scoring nine times in 54 appearances before his move to England, where hopes were high that his flair and physicality would translate to the Premier League.
Alverca have built themselves into an established top-flight side in Portugal after back-to-back promotions, and reached the country's highest division for the first time in 2025. França will now be tasked with helping the club consolidate that status among Portugal's leading clubs, in what represents a fresh continental challenge after his underwhelming spell in Brazilian football.
The move continues what has become a well-worn pattern for the Rio de Janeiro-born forward, whose early promise at Flamengo has yet to translate into a settled first-team role anywhere since his big-money switch to Palace, with a third different loan destination now the priority for a player who remains contracted to the Premier League club for two more seasons after this one.