Sought after forward turned down English chance.
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Benfica striker Oscar Cardozo has revealed that he rejected the chance to join both Southampton and West Ham United on transfer deadline day, opting to stay in the Portuguese capital instead, talkSPORT reports.
West Ham had been known to be in the market for another striker since letting Carlton Cole walk away at the end of last season and they had targeted the 30-year-old as the ideal man to partner Andy Carroll in their new look attack, whilst Southampton had been busy rejuvenating their own squad by spending £36 million.
Sources in Portugal had claimed that Cardozo’s future at Benfica was all but over after a series of incidents had seen him fall from favour at the Estadio de Luz off the back of a heart breaking season that saw them miss out on their domestic title and the Europa League.
However, the Paraguayan decided to stay put after the English duo came in late on before the transfer deadline, and rumours of him rejecting a big money move to an unnamed Qatari club have also been doing the rounds.
Turkish giants Fenerbahce have also expressed an interest, and with the Turkish transfer window still open they could still look to take him on board.