Besiktas manager sacked; Everton and Arsenal transfers may now be ruined

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It’s not every day that a managerial departure over in Turkey has implications for two Premier League clubs.

But ahead of the January transfer window, the futures of an Arsenal midfielder and Everton’s £27 million forgotten man may have just been thrown up in the air as Sergen Yalcin packs up his things and leaves Besiktas via the back door.

Mohamed Elneny is due to become a free-agent next summer.

And it was reported last week that Besiktas were looking to re-sign a player who shone during a loan spell at the Vodafone Arena in 2018/19 – at Yalcin’s request.

Yalcin, a former Turkey international who took over at Besiktas last year, is also understood to be the driving force behind a deal that would have seen Cenk Tosun return to Istanbul.

According to Takvim, Everton and the Super Lig giants are supposed to continue negotiations over Tosun’s future into this week.

Though it is not certain, at this stage, what Yalcin’s sudden departure means for Tosun’s hopes of a mid-season return to a club where he played the best football of his career.

The Toffees want £1.7 million for Tosun – more than Besiktas are prepared to pay for a man who, according to one-time Everton boss Sam Allardyce, represented substantial value for money when he arrived in a £27 million deal during January 2018.

It’s fair to say Allardyce’s claims aged less like a fine bottle of wine and more like a carton of milk left out in the midday Turkish sun.

Will Arsenal and Everton sell Elneny and Tosun?

You can see why Yalcin wanted Elneny and Tosun back at Besiktas.

The manager departs with one of the nation’s biggest clubs loitering all the way down in ninth place, 18 points behind table-topping Trabzonspor (AA).

Simply put, they are crying out for an injection of character quality.

Besktas have also lost every one of their six Champions League games, including Tuesday’s 5-0 thrashing away to Borussia Dortmund. That thumping, five-goal defeat proved to be Yalcin’s last stand.

It remains to be seen whether his replacement, whoever that may be, is willing to maintain negotiations for both Elneny and Tosun with the January window just three weeks away.

Arsenal have now been linked with Gini Wijnaldum as well as Renato Sanches – two targets who would push Elneny further down Arteta’s pecking order (Sky).