2026-02-04
The Turkish football club Fenerbahçe thanked this Wednesday the president of Turkey, the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his help in facilitating the signing of the Frenchman N’Golo Kante, whose arrival in Istanbul is expected this evening.
“On behalf of myself and my club, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our president (…) for the important support he provided to ensure the positive conclusion of this process, which will contribute to the development of both Fenerbahçe and Turkish football,” the president of the Istanbul club, Saadetinn Saran, said in a statement.
Although everything was initially agreed between the parties for the transfer of the French midfielder to the Istanbul club from the Saudi Al-Ittihad while it receives the Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri, the operation could not be completed successfully yesterday, Tuesday, due to problems with documentation.
However, the situation was finally unblocked and both clubs received approval from FIFA.
Fenerbahçe’s statement does not specify what Erdogan’s help consisted of, who had just arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on an official visit.
According to the Turkish press, Kante is expected to land in Istanbul at 9:30 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. GMT) today.
Local media also claim that the French footballer will receive an annual salary of around 10 million euros (about 11.8 million dollars), which would be added to “certain bonuses”, while at Al-IItihad he has been earning 25 million euros (almost 30 million dollars) a year.
Fenerbahçe, which currently occupies second place in the Turkish Super League, behind Galatasaray, longs for the championship title, having gone eleven seasons without achieving it.
“Together we will believe, together we will fight and together we will triumph,” said Saran when announcing the achievement of Kante’s signing.
