Madrid - Portugese giants Benfica announced late Friday that they had bought Javier Saviola from Real Madrid.

According to Spanish and Portuguese media, Benfica will pay Real 5 million euros (6.98 million dollars) for the little Argentine striker.

Saviola, 27, has hardly played for Real since joining them in 2007, after finishing his contract at Barcelona.

He had joined Barca aged 19 in 2001 from River Plate. He made a bright start at the Camp Nou but failed to fulfill his early potential, and his career has been on the slide ever since.

Saviola is the second player to leave Real this summer. The first was veteran Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro, who rejoined Juventus.(dpa)