Galatasaray vice-president Erden Timur has admitted that the Turkish club ‘took advantage’ of the situation Tottenham were in after the closure of the European transfer window to conclude deals for both Davinson Sanchez and Tanguy Ndombele.
While Sanchez has joined Galatasaray in a deal worth €9.5m (£8.1m), Ndombele has signed for the club on a season-long loan with the option to make it permanent for €15m (£12.8m).
A couple of days ago, we relayed a report from the Milliyet which claimed that Spurs wanted as much as €22m (£18.8m) for the Colombian when Galatasaray first expressed their interest in the player before bringing their asking price down to €16.5m (£14m).
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – JULY 18: Davinson Sanchez of Tottenham competes for the ball with Angelo Ogbonna of West Ham during the pre-season friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United at Optus Stadium on July 18, 2023 in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Carson/Getty Images)
The outlet explained that the Istanbul club got a big boost when the centre-back turned down a move to Bayer Leverkusen just before the transfer window closed, which meant that they were able to ‘win’ in the negotiation with Daniel Levy and sign the former Ajax man for a cut-price fee.
The report stated that it was during the negotiations over Sanchez that Galatasaray first enquired about Ndombele, with a deal for the Frenchman being concluded quite swiftly.
Galatasaray took advantage to get good Spurs deals
Timur has now admitted that the closing of the European transfer window last week was of big help to the club in getting the deals over the line.
The Galatasaray vice-president said (via Asist Analiz as translated by Sport Witness): “There were much more important opportunities for Ndombele four days ago, but when the transfer window closed, we took advantage. We thought we would not get Davinson either. We agreed on €9.5m + bonuses on the last day.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Tottenham certainly erred in Sanchez’s sale as the Colombian was evidently attracting quite a bit of interest from around Europe. Spurs might have been able to get a bigger fee for the 27-year-old had they sold him before last Friday’s deadline.
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