Oceano reveals he turned down a move from Sporting to join a rival | OneFootball

The former Sporting captain, Oceano Cruz, revealed that Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, former president of Porto, made him an offer to play for the Dragons. However, out of loyalty to the Alvalade Club, the former midfielder turned down the blue and white offer.

"I went to Antas on purpose to thank him, but I refused because I was Sporting's captain," he said in an exclusive interview on the videocast 90+3, which belongs to the newspaper 'A Bola'. The other Portuguese clubs Oceano played for were Almada, Odivelas, and Nacional.

Even after the negative response, Pinto da Costa praised Oceano for his answer and for respecting his values. "I already liked you as an athlete, now I adore you as a man," he revealed. Oceano faced the club from Invicta several times during his career.

Speaking of Sporting and Porto, Bruno Prata, in his opinion piece for Record, accused the blue and white club of opportunism and recalled the Clássico against Sporting at the beginning of this month. "When outrage arises selectively and is calibrated according to competitive convenience, the discourse loses moral weight and becomes mere opportunism," he wrote.

Oceano played for Sporting on two occasions – between 1984 and 1991 and between 1994 and 1998. In total, the former Portuguese international played 401 times in the green and white stripes, scoring 48 goals and providing five assists while wearing the lion on his chest.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.