Midfield axis with Guendouzi?
©IMAGO
Mattéo Guendouzi (26) and N’Golo Kanté (34) once played side by side in midfield in the French national team in 2024 – many games could soon follow at the club. As Turkish transfer reporter Yağız Sabuncuoğlu reports, Fenerbahce has made an offer to the veteran, who is under contract with Al-Ittihad Club in Saudi Arabia until the summer.
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There will be a meeting with Kanté’s advisory team on Tuesday. Sabuncuoğlu shared a photo of Fener’s German-Turkish sports director Devin Özek at the airport, apparently on the way to the Arabian Peninsula, on “X”. Kanté could follow midfielder Fred (32) at the Canaries, who has been linked with a return to his Brazilian homeland for days. Olympiacos Piraeus is also said to be interested. There is a transfer fee of 9 million euros for the ex-Manchester United professional.
Fenerbahce target Kanté on a free transfer in the summer
Kanté could move for free in the summer at the latest, but clubs in the Saudi Pro League have recently often let well-known players leave early and without making huge demands. Especially since Kanté is rumored to earn 25 million euros a year and occupies one of the limited foreign places. Defending champions Al-Ittihad are in sixth place in the table after 13 games, already twelve points behind leaders Al-Hilal. Coach Sérgio Conceição, who was brought in in October, could rebuild the squad to his liking in the event of corresponding departures, even if he recently continued to rely on Kanté. With Mahamadou Doumbia (21), the potential successor at Al-Ittihad is already ready.
In addition to record signing Guendouzi, who came from Lazio for 28 million euros in exclusive bonuses, Fenerbahce have already strengthened themselves this winter with winger Anthony Musaba (25) from Samsunspor and veteran goalkeeper Mert Günok (36) from Besiktas. İrfan Can Kahveci (30) went on loan to Kasimpasa and İrfan Can Eğribayat (27) to Samsun.
I wouldn’t like to give up Fred. However, they would probably like to get a transfer fee from him (there were rumors that his transfer fee could be relatively high). Since Tedesco doesn’t use a playmaker anyway, you just want to play full-pressing so that you win balls quickly and play forward as quickly as possible (hence Guendo, for example, who was one of the best Serie A players in the area of progressive carries and progressive passes). A cheaper edge would be Fred without really big…
