Cenk Tosun has agreed to cut his weekly wage by 75% to re-join Besiktas in a free transfer from Everton when his contract ends at Goodison Park this summer, according to The Star.
The Turkey international left the Super Lig giants for the Blues in 2018 under Sam Allardyce in a £27m deal. But his Merseyside career has failed to justify the fee spent and should now leave the Toffees at the end of the season when his one and only contract expires in June.
Everton awarded the forward a four-and-a-half-year deal upon his arrival in England, worth £100k-a-week. Yet their efforts to strengthen in attack has only resulted in 11 goals and six assists after 61 appearances. He has also only scored nine in 50 Premier League matches.
With his contract expiring this June, Tosun is now preparing to leave Everton and return to Besiktas in a free transfer. The 30-year-old believes the best move for his career is to leave the Premier League and return to familiar ground after nine prior seasons in the Super Lig.
Tosun spent three-and-a-half seasons with Besiktas before moving to Merseyside in 2018. He also returned to Vodafone Park on loan for the second half of last season. However, a patella tendon rupture that required surgery terminated his latest Black Eagles adventure.
Everton striker Tosun agrees 75% pay cut to join Besiktas in free transfer
Tosun only returned to fitness from his knee injury in November and played six-minutes of Premier League football under Rafa Benitez. The 45-cap striker is yet to feature at all since, with Frank Lampard only including him on the bench for just one game since taking charge.
So, an offer to re-join Besiktas in a free transfer at the end of his Everton contract was too good for Tosun to refuse, it appears. Even if he has slashed his salary by 75% to do so. The forward will pen a three-year deal with the Black Eagles worth €1.6m-a-season (£25k-a/w).
A return to Vodafone Park would bring the curtain down on a Toffees career that has been on borrowed time for years. The Liverpool Echo reported in January 2019 that Everton had set a £20m asking price after failing to fit Marco Silva’s system after he replaced Allardyce.
A year later, he joined Crystal Palace on loan with a £20m option to buy, per The Athletic. But anterior cruciate ligament surgery ended his Selhurst Park stay, and ruled out a likely permanent move. As chairman Steve Parish had already voiced his intent to purchase.
“Roy [Hodgson] felt we needed more firepower, so we took Cenk,” Parish told the Eagles’ YouTube channel. “Obviously, if we had bought him for £20m or whatever, maybe that would have been a better PR story. But he is an excellent player.
“I think he will be a big help going into the next six-months and I see no reason why we couldn’t make that a permanent deal in the summer, if things go well for both parties.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
