Besiktas contacted Cenk Tosun about a potential return to Turkey but will he stay in the Premier League with Everton?
Everton misfit Cenk Tosun has admitted to NTV that Besiktas have been in touch regarding a potential return to Istanbul – but the Turkish international is keen to stay and fight for his place at Goodison Park.
A striker who scored goals for fun at Besiktas, firing them to successive Super Lig titles, has certainly found such match-winning displays far harder to come by at Everton.
Since his £27 million move to Merseyside in January 2018 (Goal), Tosun has scored just nine goals in 43 games in all competitions. Four of those came last season as he slipped behind Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin in Marco Silva’s plans. Moise Kean has since arrived from Juventus too.
Nonetheless, Tosun is not eyeing a return to the club where he enjoyed the most prolific years of his career.
“Besiktas’ management contacted me a while ago. But I want to continue my career (at Everton). I passed it onto (Besiktas’s) authorities,” said the German-born 28-year-old.
“They understood me. We didn’t have a conversation (about moving).”
Tosun is not the only striker struggling for game time at Everton. Oumar Niasse, another who enjoyed a fine spell in Turkey before heading to England, is also bang out of favour.
But, speaking to the Liverpool Echo ahead of Friday’s trip to Aston Villa, Silva confirmed that he is counting on Tosun for the season ahead. Tellingly, he made no mention of keeping Niasse at Goodison Park.
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