Besiktas vice-president Ahmet Nur Cebi has revealed details of negotiations that took place between Everton and the Istanbul giants for Cenk Tosun.
Tosun ended up making the move to Everton for £26 million over the January transfer window. The Turkey international has struggled to settle into life at the Merseyside based club and has already been relegated to the bench by manager Sam Allardyce.
However, Nur Cebi has revealed that Everton initially tabled an 11 million bid for the Turkey international. After ‘intense’ negotiations Besiktas managed to raise the price to £19.9 million (£26 million including add-ons).
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“First of all they were very intense talks. I’ve been in many of these talks,” Nur Cebi told HaberTurk.
“Everton offered €12.5m first, but we managed to up it to €22.5m (£19.9m) with add ons. I think it’s good money considering the previous sales Turkish clubs have ever made.
“As a board member I can confirm to you that we didn’t want to lose Cenk. But he has targets, one of them is to play in the Premier League.
“After talks with Everton reached an advanced stage, we considered his wishes and made the deal with the English club.”
Tosun has failed to find the back of the net since his move to Everton after netting 14 goals before the move to Merseyside.
The 26-year-old has however fallen down the pecking order at Everton and was left on the bench for the Toffees last two games.
Everton are back in action this weekend when they take on Watford FC in the Premier League.
