Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce have agreed a deal to sign Filip Kostic from Juventus before the Turkish transfer window closes, Fabrizio Romano has revealed.
Romano has classed the deal as being at the ‘here we go’ stage, explaining that Juventus have accepted a proposal from Fenerbahce and are allowing Kostic to leave on what will be a season-long loan with an option for a permanent transfer at the end of the campaign. It remains undisclosed how much that option to buy will be worth.
Kostic and his camp are now planning his travel to Turkey so he can complete the move in time before the Turkish transfer deadline on Friday, September 13.
Fenerbahce will be the first club outside of Europe’s top five leagues that Kostic has played for in 10 years.
Kostic has only been with Juventus for two years, making 87 appearances in that time. However, he has less room there after several players were acquired to suit Thiago Motta’s style over the summer, before the Serie A transfer deadline on August 30.
Although Italian clubs can no longer sign players until January, they can sell players to countries where the transfer window remains open.
The Turkish Super Lig is arguably the most appealing market still open and that is before even considering the lure of a manager like Mourinho at Fenerbahce.
Mourinho was also credited with an interest in Kostic during his last role as Roma’s head coach.
During his first summer in charge of his new club, Mourinho has seen Fenerbahce sign players such as Youssef En-Nesyri from Sevilla, Cenk Tosun from Besiktas, Allan Saint-Maximin from Al-Ahli, Oguz Aydin from Alanyaspor and Sofyan Amrabat from Fiorentina, while also converting loan deals for Caglar Soyuncu (Atletico Madrid) and Rade Krunic (AC Milan) into permanent moves.
Kostic to become key Fenerbahce asset
After an unbeaten start to the Turkish Super Lig season, Fenerbahce are now set to add another asset to their squad before their next fixture, against Kasimpasa on September 15 after the international break.
Kostic, 31, can play anywhere down the left flank. For Juventus, he was largely a wing-back under previous head coach Massimiliano Allegri, but he has not been favoured by current boss, Thiago Motta.
By the end of his loan spell with Fenerbahce, there will only be one year remaining on his Juventus contract, which gives further justification behind the Italian side’s decision to propose a permanent deal for the Serbia international afterwards.
Juventus have been just as active in offloading players as they have signing them this summer. Among other bits of business, Federico Chiesa was sold to Liverpool, Adrien Rabiot was released, Wojciech Szczesny retired, Samuel Iling-Junior and Enzo Barrenechea were sacrificed to Aston Villa, Daniele Rugani was loaned to Ajax and Mattia De Sciglio was loaned to Empoli, and Moise Kean was sold to Fiorentina.
Kostic will be the next element of a clear-out that earlier enabled them to bring in new signings like Douglas Luiz, Teun Koopmeiners, Khephren Thuram, Michele De Gregorio, Pierre Kalulu, Juan Cabal, Francisco Conceicao and Nicolas Gonzalez.
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