Beşiktaş striker Cenk Tosun set for $36.6 million move to Everton

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş striker Cenk Tosun was on Jan. 4 close to completing a move to the Premier League club Everton for 27 million pounds ($36.6 million), bringing in a record fee to a Turkish club.Beşiktaş striker Cenk Tosun was on Jan. 4 close to completing a move to the Premier League club Everton for 27 million pounds ($36.6 million), bringing in a record fee to a Turkish club.

 “Our interests and the player’s interests are important,” Beşiktaş Chairman Fikret Orman said when asked about the transfer. “Cenk wants to join Everton. We want to do our part and we are working on a replacement.”

“The era of buy, buy, buy is over. This is the era of buy, add value and sell. A final deal has not been reached yet but we have an agreement over the price. The end is near. The transfer will be wrapped up by the weekend.”

Everton manager Sam Allardyce has identified the German-born Turkey international as the forward to add goals and threat to his squad following the failure to replace Romelu Lukaku after his 90 million pound ($122million) move to Manchester United.

“Him and many others, because we need a front man if we can find one,” Allardyce said last week when asked about reports of his side’s interest in Tosun following goalless draws against  West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea respectively.

“I need more goals in the side if we are to maintain our position. We’ve started to struggle to score goals in recent matches, so it’s still one of the major problems we have,” he said.

“We’ve got more penalties than anybody else in the Premier League, which has contributed to a few points, but that won’t always happen. So we need to strengthen in goal scoring areas and that, for me, means new players,” the Everton manager said.

Tosun has been capped 25 times by Turkey and has been in fine form this season, scoring four goals in the Champions League to help Beşiktaş reach the last-16 for the first time. 

The Turkish champion will take on Bayern Munich over two legs next month in its bid for a quarterfinal berth.

The fee paid for Tosun is the second highest to be paid for a Turkish player, behind the $49.5 million paid for Barcelona to acquire Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid.

But it will be the biggest transfer fee received by a Turkish club.

Tosun’s move to Everton made Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek happy since it “will help Turkey reduce its current account deficit.”

“If correct, I congratulate both Beşiktaş and Cenk Tosun,” Şimşek wrote on his Twitter account on Jan. 4.

“I also congratulate them for their contribution to our balance of payments,” he added ironically.

“Indeed, Turkey should post a large foreign trade surplus in footballer transfers, considering its population of more than 80 million and the great interest in football here,” Şimşek noted.