Galatasaray’s deputy chairman Erden Timur has revealed that the Turkish giants had to wait until they got through the Champions League qualifying rounds before swooping for Tottenham duo, Davinson Sanchez and Tanguy Ndombele.
Tottenham were not able to offload Sanchez and Ndombele before the European transfer deadline on September 2 but with Turkish clubs being allowed to sign players for two more weeks, both players ended up completing switches to Galatasaray.
While Sanchez joined the Istanbul side in a deal worth €9.5m (£8.1m), the Frenchman signed for the club on a season-long loan with the option to make it permanent for €15m (£12.8m).
The Colombian has made a promising start to life at the Turkish club, having already established himself as a mainstay in the backline but the same cannot be said for Ndombele, who has not made a single start yet this season (Transfermarkt).
Galatasaray boss Okan Buruk even admitted two weeks ago that the on-loan Tottenham man is ‘not in the best shape’ and is still working his way up to full fitness (Yenicag Gazetesi via Sport Witness).
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Spurs exits were all thanks to Champions League cash
Timur has now opened up on the double deal with Spurs, admitting that the club would not have had the finances for the operation if they had failed to qualify for the Champions League.
He told Fanatik: “In order to increase (our budget), we had to qualify for the Champions League. We had to keep the players waiting until that money arrived.
“If we had not qualified for the Champions League, we would not have been able to complete the signings of Davinson Sanchez and Ndombele.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Sanchez was a real coup for Galatasaray as despite his struggles at Spurs over the last couple of years, the Colombian is certainly good enough to play in one of the top five leagues. The Ndombele deal is also a good one for the Turkish club since there is barely any risk involved.
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