West Ham United chief Scott Duxbury admits they would liked to have held onto Savio Nsereko in the swap deal for Fiorentina fullback Manuel da Costa.

"Had our financial situation been different we would have preferred to have kept and developed Savio," said Duxbury.

"However, we are required to make savings and our policy has always been to sell players on the fringes rather than established first-team players. With the fee we received for Savio and 50 per cent sell-on together with acquiring the highly-rated Da Costa, it represented a great deal."