Pardew watches Porto as West Ham consider Benni McCarthy

Apparently Pardew was in Portugal on Saturday watching Benni McCarthy playing for Porto. West Ham have been after the South African international Benni since the summer, however having spent a club record fee of £7.25 million on striker Dean Ashton it seems unlikely that another forward is at the top of the wanted list. The scouting trip obviously has nothing to do with the freezing weather in England at the moment.