Arsenal were pursuing Turkey winger Oguz Aydin prior to his €6m (£5m) transfer to Fenerbahce earlier this month, the president of his former club has claimed.
Aydin finished 2023/24 with 20 goals and assists in the Super Lig after a blistering end to the campaign – he found the net ten times in Alanyaspor’s final 12 games alone. But that wasn’t enough to make Turkey’s final Euro 2024 squad after being included on the provisional list.
It still brought him summer transfer attention, though. Cihan Aktas, president of Bucaspor where Dutch-born Aydin started out in the youth ranks as a 16-year-old, suggested that Arsenal were among those tracking the player as they eyed a potential bargain.
Galatasary had a blistering 2023/24 as they broke through the 100-point barrier to claim the Super Lig title ahead of Fenerbahce, who themselves finished on 99. But that seemingly wasn’t enough to convince Aydin to join them once Fenerbahce president Ali Koc, from one of Turkey’s wealthiest and most powerful business families, decisively became involved in the transfer saga.
“Oguz is a player who takes the stage at unexpected moments and wins matches,” Aktas told Turkish outlet Hurriyet. “Two Italian clubs and Arsenal were after him. Galatasaray also wanted him, but when Ali Koc stepped in, he became a Fenerbahce player.”
The reason that Aktas has inside knowledge of the transfer is because Bucaspor, who went bust during Aydin’s time there but assumed the identity of an existing breakaway club, profited from his transfer due to a sell-on clause when he joined Alanyaspor.
The deal entitled Bucaspor, currently in Turkey’s third tier, to a hefty €1.8m.
For Arsenal, Aydin might have been considered a cheap gamble worth taking given that the Gunners are also heavily linked with Spain’s Euro 2024 star Nico Williams, complete with €58m (£49m) release clause. The Athletic Club winger could be considered an upgrade on Gabriel Martinelli, albeit harshly, but a reliable central striker is arguably still of greater importance to complete the puzzle.
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