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Besiktas profit as the rest battle debt
- Published: July 30, 2018
The Black Eagles are the only club out of the Big Three to make profit this summer.
While Turkish giants Fenerbahce and Galatasaray grapple with rising debt, their arch-rival Besiktas have marked what has been largely an uneventful transfer window with more than €13.7 million in profit.
This year’s summer transfer window, running between June 9 and August 31, might be the slowest in recent memory of Turkish football if not for the rumor mill swirling wildly in the media.
The Big Three, thus far, have pursued a cautious transfer policy in the face of mounting debts while others in the Super Lig have also followed suit. Only a handful of clubs have been able to snatch a number of prominent players, unlike in the past seasons.
The rising currency rates and UEFA Financial Fair Play rules that require clubs not to spend more than they earn severely restrict high-profile transfers, according to experts.
Besiktas, however, has firmly placed itself on the other side of the spectrum, enjoying profits of over €13.7 million from transfers.
They sold Spanish goalkeeper Fabri to Premier League side Fulham F.C. and offloaded Serbian defender Dusko Tosic to China’s Guangzhou to the tune of €5 million. The Black Eagles also collected around €3.5 million from Club Brugge for the transfer of Croatian defender Matej Mitrovic.
Fabri was sold to Fulham this summer.
On the other hand, they have only spent €250,000 on Umut Nayır, a 25-year-old forward from Ankara’s Osmanlıspor. On Friday, they signed Chilean defender Enzo Roco, reportedly on a free transfer from Mexican club Cruz Azul. Turkish media reports claimed that the defender has signed a deal worth €1.3 million.
For Fenerbahce, expenditures outweigh revenue this summer. The Yellow Canaries sold Brazilian striker Fernandao for €2.5 million to Saudi Arabian side Al-Wehda. As for incoming transfers, they’ve spent €1.5 million for midfielder Barıs Alici and another €2.5 million for goalkeeper Berke Ozer from Altınordu, a small club in western Turkey which has been hailed for producing some of Turkey’s best homegrown talents.
They’ve also signed Andre Ayew on loan from Swansea City for €1.5 million, the team’s most high-profile transfer this season so far. Fenerbahce also added Ferdi Kadioglu to their squad, a Dutch midfielder of Turkish origin, for €1.4 million from NEC Nijmegen. So far, Fenerbahce’s losses amount to around €4.3 million this transfer window.
Ayew is the biggest name to arrive so far.
As for Galatasaray, they recorded a loss of €900,000 so far. The Lions sold Belgian defender Cavanda to Standard Liege for €2.4 million and paid €2.5 million for Japanese international Yuto Nagatomo. The club also transferred Nigerian forward Henry Onyekuru on loan from Everton for €800,000.
