Turkish football clubs spend 188 million euros in transfer

Oktay Özdabakoğlu ISTANBUL - Radikal

Galatasaray has signed Felipe Melo (R) from Italian giants Juventus on a deal worth 3.75 million euros. Brazilian midfielder has been playing at the Turkish champion for two years on loan contracts. AFP photo

The top four football clubs in Turkey have racked up 188.6 million euros in signings over the current transfer window, according to the latest figures, which were released a few days before the start of the 2013-14 season.

Fenerbahçe’s transfers left the Istanbul club 80.3 million euros in debt, while Beşiktaş seems to have left its season of downsizing behind.

Dubbed the seventh most lucrative football league in Europe, the new season of the Spor Toto Super League will start this weekend, with Fenerbahçe staging a bid to dethrone two-time defending champion Galatasaray. Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor, likewise, spent big to join the title race. The total debts of Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor during the transfer season amount to 188.6 million euros (482.8 million Turkish Liras). Fenerbahçe topped the list, especially with its transfers of Nigerian forward Emmanuel Emenike and rising Turkish star Alper Potuk. While Galatasaray had to slow down due to a foreign transfers quota, Beşiktaş seems to have ended its period of economic downsizing, which it called “Feda,” or sacrifice, in a reference to the team’s iconic captain Şeref Bey’s last words.

Fener tops list

Fenerbahçe made five new signings worth 29.3 million euros. The total cost of Emenike, who was signed from Spartak Moscow, reached 22.8 million euros. Alper, who arrived from Eskişehirspor, will be paid 8 million euros over five years. Fenerbahçe has also extended its contract with goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, agreeing to pay its captain 10 million euros over four years. Defenders Michal Kadlec and Bruno Alves’ costs to the club equal 10 million euros.

Defending champion Galatasaray follows with 48.2 million euros in transfers. Galatasaray signed contracts with seven players, paying 12.8 million euros in transfer fees for three of them. Defender Aurelien Chedjou cost 16.3 million euros to Galatasaray, who paid Juventus 3.75 million euros for Felipe Melo and 2.7 million euros to Toulouse for forward Umut Bulut. The Lions will pay a total wage bill of 35.5 million euros to its seven transfers.

Beşiktaş was one of the most generous clubs this summer. The club signed 13 contracts, including one for its new coach, Slaven Bilic, who signed a three-year contract for 4.8 million euros. Beşiktaş paid Trabzonspor, the former club of new goalkeeping signing Tolga Zengin, 2.75 million euros, while the netminder will be paid 3.75 million euros for three years.

Trabzonspor has signed contracts with important players this season. The club will pay new transfers Florent Malouda 5 million euros in a two-year deal and Bonsingwa 5.9 million euros over three years. Both players arrived from Chelsea without a transfer fee. Trabzonspor also signed Aykut Demir from Gençlerbirliği for 2.9 million euros.