Erden Timur, Galatasaray’s deputy chairman, has stated that the Turkish giants had to wait until the Champions League qualifying rounds were over before swooping for Tottenham duo Davinson Sanchez and Tanguy Ndombele.
Tottenham were unable to unload Sanchez and Ndombele before the European transfer deadline on September 2, but with Turkish teams allowed to sign players for another two weeks, both players ended up joining Galatasaray.
While Sanchez joined Istanbul for €9.5 million (£8.1 million), the Frenchman agreed to a season-long loan with the chance to make it permanent for €15 million (£12.8 million).
The Colombian has had a promising start to life at the Turkish club, establishing himself as a mainstay in the backline, whereas Ndombele has yet to make a single start this season (Transfermarkt).
Okan Buruk, the manager of Galatasaray, said two weeks ago that the on-loan Tottenham player is ‘not in the ideal shape’ and is still working his way back to full health (Yenicag Gazetesi via Sport Witness).
Spurs’ exits were all due to Champions League money.
Timur has now spoken out about the double agreement with Tottenham, stating that the team would not have been able to carry it out if they had failed to qualify for the Champions League.
“We had to qualify for the Champions League in order to increase (our budget),” he told Fanatik. We had no choice but to keep the players waiting till the 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.”
Our Opinion
Sanchez was a huge coup for Galatasaray because, despite his troubles at Tottenham in recent years, the Colombian is clearly good enough to play in one of the top five leagues. The Ndombele trade is also advantageous for the Turkish club because there is no risk involved.
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