LIVE
...

Follow us on

Soccer Transfer News

‘We want him’: President says he’d love to sign £50k-a-week Everton man

Photo by /BSR Agency/Getty Images
Photo by /BSR Agency/Getty Images
Follow us on Google Discover
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - APRIL 7: Cenk Tosun of Besiktas celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Super Lig match between Besiktas and Alanyaspor at Vodafone Park on April 7, 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey (Photo by /BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Photo by /BSR Agency/Getty Images

Everton’s Premier League misfit Cenk Tosun will be welcomed back at Besiktas with open arms, the Turkish club’s president Ahmed Nur Cebi tells Hurriyet. 

When asked about a potential return to Istanbul for a Besiktas fan favourite, Cebi started off by saying that he was in no mood to engage in speculation regarding the future of a man currently under contract at another club.

Mere moments later, he did precisely the opposite. 

Tosun’s £50,000-a-week Goodison Park contract expires in July.

When you consider that he’s played just six minutes of Premier League football all season for both Rafa Benitez and Frank Lampard, an extension looks about as likely as Steven Gerrard outing himself as a boyhood bluenose. 

Will Cenk Tosun play for Everton again?

It’s safe to say Tosun won’t be remembered with too much fondness on Merseyside.

Sam Allardyce’s infamous claim that Tosun, for £27 million, represented one of the best pound-for-pound signings on the market have aged about as well as a pint of milk left out in the Istanbul sun. 

But while the Turkey international has flattered to deceive at Everton, he remains a living legend in Besiktas.

“Cenk Tosun is currently a player of another team. It would not be right to talk (about him) currently,” Cebi says. 

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 21: Cenk Tosun of Everton shoots during the Premier League match between Everton FC and Arsenal FC at Goodison Park on December 21, 2019 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Photo by Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images

“We’ll talk when the contract is up. If he wants to play in Istanbul, we will embrace him. We want him to come back again.”

Tosun has won three Super Lig titles during two spells at Besiktas, scoring 24 goals in his final full season at the Vodafone Park.

The seldom-seen 30-year-old played down reports of a return to Turkey recently. He did admit, however, that he plans to leave Everton when he becomes a free-agent in the summer. 

Then again, that decision has probably been taken out of his hands already. 

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - DECEMBER 28: Cenk Tosun of Besiktas greets Besiktas fans after the Ziraat Turkish Cup soccer match between Besiktas and Osmanlispor at Vodafone Park in Istanbul, Turkey on December 28, 2017. 

  (Photo by Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Photo by Salih Zeki Fazlioglu/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images