The Manchester United winger Nani has agreed personal terms with Fenerbahce and is expected to complete a move to Turkey in the next week. The two clubs are still discussing the fee with United holding out for more than the €5m (£3.5m) offered by Fenerbahce, who finished second in the league last season.
The Fenerbahce sporting director, Giuliano Terraneo, has travelled to Portugal to go over final details with the player’s agent. Talks had initially stalled as the player’s family had reservations about a move to Turkey, but they have decided to try living in a new country after spending seven years in Manchester, and a year in Lisbon while the player was on loan at Sporting.
Terraneo held talks with United last week regarding the Portuguese international’s transfer fee, with the Yellow Canaries wanting the move to be completed in euros while United are pushing for sterling. Nani is currently on holiday but is expected to join his agent in Portugal to meet Terraneo.
Nani scored 11 times for Sporting in all competitions last season and would become the third Portuguese international at Fenerbahce after the former Liverpool and Chelsea midfielder Raul Meireles and the experienced centre-back Bruno Alves.
Fenerbahce have made sweeping changes over the summer, with the Portuguese manager arriving alongside the Italian sporting director Terraneo. Pereira became the first foreign manager to take charge of Fenerbahce since Christoph Daum in 2009 when he replaced Ismail Kartal. Terraneo, meanwhile, became the Istanbul club’s first foreign sporting director when he took over last month.
The changes mark a complete strategic overhaul at the club. The club president, Aziz Yildirim, no longer involves himself directly in footballing matters and was a notable absence when the club unveiled new signings Simon Kjaer and Fernandão last month. The club have also parted way with several loyal servants, including Emre Belozoglu, Selcuk Sahin and Bekir Irtegun in a bid to reduce the average age of the squad which, at 30, was one of the oldest in the league last season.
In an already busy summer, the club have signed centre-back Kjaer from Lille on a £6.73m deal as well as the Turkish international full-back Sener Ozbayrakli and last season’s Super Lig top scorer Fernandão, who scored 22 goals last season on loan at Bursaspor from the Brazilian side Atlético Paranaense.
Emre Sarigul is the editor of Turkish Football. Follow him on Twitter here.
