Youssef En-Nesyri, Kanté Transfer Collapses as Fenerbahçe Blames Al Ittihad

The highly anticipated exchange between Turkey and Saudi Arabia will not go ahead. The Istanbul-based club officially announced that negotiations had been abandoned, despite having finalized all preparations to welcome French midfielder N’Golo Kanté and complete Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri’s departure to the Gulf. According to the statement, player agreements, medical examinations and regulatory documents were all in order on the Turkish side.

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Full responsibility for this fiasco was placed on Al Ittihad. The Turkish management pointed to “incorrect entry of TMS information by the opposing club,” a technical failure on the FIFA platform that blocked the validation of the transfers before the market closed.

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Despite a request for an extension and emergency discussions with the global governing body to save the deal, the deadlock remained total. The Turkish club regretted that the Saudi side had not completed the necessary corrective operations, “without providing any justification.”

Faced with the failure of this strategic reshaping of its squad, the club said it shared the “disappointment” of its supporters but stated that it would continue restructuring in line with its initial sporting objectives, effectively retaining its Moroccan goalscorer for the time being.