Fenerbahçe seal Kanté signing after intervention from Turkey’s president | OneFootball

After two seasons in Saudi Arabia, French midfielder N’Golo Kanté signed this Wednesday (4th) with Fenerbahçe, which thanked the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his contribution in making the deal happen.

The announcement comes a day after Fenerbahçe explained on its social media that signing Kanté would not be possible because Al-Ittihad, the Saudi club where the Frenchman played, had not correctly entered the transfer information into the FIFA system before the transfer window closed.

However, Erdogan used his influence during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“On my own behalf and on behalf of the club, I would like to express my gratitude to our president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his unwavering support, which made the successful conclusion of this process possible, and which will contribute to the development of Fenerbahçe and Turkish football,” wrote the president of the Istanbul club, Sadettin Saran, this Wednesday.

According to the Turkish press, Kanté, 34, also refused to train on Tuesday to put pressure on Al-Ittihad’s management and force his move to Fenerbahçe.

FIFA then approved the transfer of the midfielder, who is expected to arrive in Istanbul later this Wednesday.

Kanté’s goal (65 matches for the French national team) with his return to European football is to increase his chances of being called up by French coach Didier Deschamps for the World Cup (from June 11 to July 19).

*By AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.