En-Nesyri to Al-Ittihad
©IMAGO
The changes were accompanied by mishaps, but now Fenerbahce and Al-Ittihad can still make a move on N’Golo Kanté (34) and Youssef En-Nesyri (28). After problems with registration and the expiry of the deadline in Saudi Arabia, Kanté’s transfer to Turkey and En-Nesyri’s departure to the desert state were confirmed on Wednesday night.
The problem with the exchange of the two players was that an error in the registration software (TMS) ensured that a change could not go through on time. In Turkey the transfer window runs until Friday, February 6th, in Saudi Arabia the registration phase ended on Monday. After initially assuming a system crash, Fenerbahce later accused Al-Ittihad in a statement of failing to carry out its part on time “due to incorrect entry of the relevant TMS information.” We understand and share the disappointment that this caused.
Less than 24 hours later, Fenerbahce shared his previous post on X with the words: “Giving up is not in our vocabulary”. Shortly afterwards, the Turks welcomed Kanté to their official channels. Al-Ittihad had recently announced that Kanté’s contract with the SPL club had been terminated. Al-Ittihad will pay the player the salary due by summer. The contract would only have been valid for six months.
Kanté has a contract on the Bosporus until 2028, as confirmed by the association, and according to reports it will probably not cost any transfer fee. There was also previously talk of a payment of 4 million euros. There was initially no confirmation of details from Fenerbahce. En-Nesyri was shown arriving in Jeddah by Al-Ittihad on Wednesday. The Saudis initially did not provide any further information. The sale of the Moroccan is expected to bring Fenerbahce a transfer fee of 15 million euros. The striker has contributed 38 goals and eight assists in 79 games for the team from Istanbul since 2024. Midfielder Kanté moved from Chelsea to Al-Ittihad in 2023 and played 105 games there with ten goals and eleven assists.
