I was just wondering why they let him go, Pierre is absolutely accurate with his free kicks and a fine striker!
Actually, he's not shite. He led Feyenord and all players in the Uefa Cup in scoring. Benfica just wouldn't sign him to a long term deal. They felt at 30 he didn't have much more to give. He had a great season last year.
Benfica was also struggling financially, so it was an opportunity for them to sell an asset. In hindsight, I am sure that Benfica would have preferred to have PvH in the lineup last season.
I remember when he played for Nottingham Forrest. Although that was years ago. He was quite prolific if I remember rightly.
I might be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that Van Hooijdonk was dissapointed that Benfica didn't make the Champions League and that was the reason why he signed in the first place. So he wasn't interested in sticking around, even if benfica wanted him.
Benfica was trying to liquidate all of JVA's signings. Silly team. PVH would have helped them immensly, much better of a player than Nuno Gomes.
Marco is right (wow ... this might be the first time I'm saying that ). PVH wanted to stay but for any reason Benfica needs to change nearly the whole team any season and so PVH became a victim. If he wouldn't have moved he would've been forced to play with Benfica B.
PVH is a very good player. But Benfica couldn't afford him at that time, so they had to let him go. PVH on Benfica would make them even better than they already are.