Friday, 23rd May, 2014
Ola John admits that he turned down the chance to move to England in January, but insists his dream remains to play in the English Premier League.
The speedy winger swapped Benfica for Hamburg on loan at the start of 2014 after struggling for playing time in Portugal, but soon found himself out of favour at the Bundesliga side and as a result failed to push for a spot in Louis van Gaal's Holland World Cup squad.
John was strongly linked with Liverpool, while Ajax wanted to take him back to his native Holland.
"In the winter I also had the option to go to Ajax or a club in England, and in retrospect it is easy to say that I made the wrong choice", John told Helden Magazine.
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And the winger, who looks set to be on the move from Benfica this summer despite a contract which runs until 2017, still has ambitions of playing in England, even if he still claims to be focused on producing the goods in Portugal first.
"My dream is to play football in England", he said.
"There are several clubs I like, but the main thing is that I perform well at Benfica."
The 22-year-old started his career in the youth ranks at FC Twente before being snapped up my Benfica for €9m in 2012.
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