Udinese one step away from Okaka’s farewell: ready to sign with the Basaksehir Turks

The circle is closing. There are only the traditional medical examinations, which will take place today, to greet Stefano Okaka and remove from Udinese a rather heavy engagement for the black and white habits, about 900 thousand. Leaving aside the details – far from verifiable – on the flight that would have already transported the center forward from Castiglione del Lago to Turkey, the certainty is represented by the agreement reached between the player and Basaksehir, the “government” club owned by the l Ministry for Youth and Sport stationed in the capital Istanbul which would like to place the bang James Rodriguez, on loan from Everton, in the next few hours.

Okaka glides in the top league of the country of the Crescent, the Super Lig, where he had been on the verge of landing several times over the last few seasons and also, according to rumors, also during last August, since he had been courted in particular from Rizespor who, however, just yesterday presented the Finnish Joel Pohjanpalo, who arrived on loan from Bayer Leverkusen. The Juventus number 7 had always declined the offer, saying that he wanted to play his cards in Friuli, where, however, the purchase of the last hour (of the market), the Portuguese Beto Betuncal, would have changed the cards on the table, considering that Okaka he suddenly found himself in fifth position in the ranking of Luca Gotti’s forwards, also thanks to the arrival of the Nigerian Isaac Success in Juventus from Watford, where it is clear that the first two choices of the Contarina coach should be, in perspective, Nacho Pussetto and Gerard Deulofeu.

Not the transfer window open only in some countries of the Uefa area, “Stefano” thus had to reconsider his plans convincing himself in front of the proposal for a two-year contract with an option for a third year, not too bad for a player who is Udinese had an agreement expiring in June 2022 and that playing little or nothing would have struggled to find a “robust” engagement even from a free transfer. To let him go, the Juventus club would have contented itself with reimbursing part of the expenses covered during the year to honor his contract, something that he would also gladly do with Lukasz Teodorczyk, the Pole who returned from his loan at Charleroi and who is also about to expire his contract. next year, but tomorrow the market will also close in Turkey and only destinations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia will remain available, which are far from probable.

Okaka, on the other hand, is ready to leave Udinese today after 75 league and cup appearances since January 2019, during which he scored 18 goals and fanned 5 assists, the last of which against Juventus, during the 20 minutes that Gotti gave him. on the pitch in the first two days. The form, in fact, was not the best, as it was also understood during the last test, Saturday against the Dolomiti Bellunesi: in the coming weeks it would have been a side element, we might as well sell it, save a lot of euros and wait as fifth the convalescent Ilija Nestorovski was chosen.