I hope Haji is ok with this situation. Last time he didn’t get a move he wanted, he just moved to Turkey and started training with the team.
He better be okay with it, they have a big match today against Trabzonspor. No time for him to be annoyed, upset, or agitated. .
Galatasaray has come back with another offer for Haji, this time for €3M: https://www.gazetevatan.com/galeri/...f-daha-haji-wright-icin-3-milyon-euro-2080987
They won and are finally out of the relegation zone, so it's not like they need him, it seems. Antalyaspor have managed 7 points in the 5 league games without Haji. They had managed 17 in the 16 games with him.
Antalyaspor president, Aziz Çetin: "Haji Wright will stay if we don't get the offer we've been waiting for by February 8th." https://www.fotomac.com.tr/galatasa...ransferi-aciklamasi-galatasaray-ve-fenerbahce
I hope Haji is ok after the devastating earthquakes in Turkey. There is a report out that a Ghana National Team player is missing (Atsu).
Agreed. Antalya felt some tremors but spared otherwise as the quake was more in southeast Turkey close to the Syrian boarder. Gaziantepe and Antakya were the two big cities that felt the brunt of it. Sad. Very sad. Sam Adekugbe, a CMNT player and former Whitecaps player, plays at Hatayspor in Antakya with Atsu. Luckily, he’s reported as safe.
Haji was bound to stay put. An earthquake on this scale was obviously going to put a major spanner in the works for the Turkish economy, which is going to drain even Galatasaray's or Fenerbache's finances. Then there's the optics of splashing $X million on a player at a time of national crisis. Unless he moves to MLS (great, but why?) or Asia (perish the thought) he'll stay until the summer, when the economic fallout from the earthquake will encourage Antalyaspor to moderate their pricing.
havent heard but he was injured before this reported move fell through...i'm assuming that had something to do with him not moving.. unfortuntately, atsu passed away in the earthquake, though.
Not in the lineup again today. Not sure how credible this report is, but may explain what's going on: SportLine @sportline39 Galatasaray and Antalyaspor management held a transfer meeting for Haji Wright last night. (Spokesman) #SONDAKİKA #Galatasaray
Even if he moves to Gala that's not likely. The Turkish league champ has to get through 4 rounds of qualifying just to make it to the group stage next season.
I thought Turkey's transfer window had closed, but apparently it has been extended multiple times due to the earthquake, and they've again extended it further to March 5. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/sports/tur...extension-of-winter-transfer-deadline/2824361
There are a number of Turkish outlets reporting that Galatasaray and Antalyaspor are getting closer to reaching an agreement over Wright (see here or here or here or here for example), though I still don't really have a sense of whether they'll actually get there. It sounds like Antalyaspor have lowered their demand from 10 million euros to 7 million euros (but may now be requesting one or two young depth players from Galatasaray to be sent their way as part of the deal), and that Galatasaray have raised their offer to either 5 or 6 million euros (if I recall, earlier reports had mentioned them only offering 2.5 million initially), but they've already vetoed giving up one of the two players Antalyaspor requested as part of a swap.
Bold move. Antalyaspor is only 3 pts. above the red line, and are about to sell the guy who's scored 10 of their 27 goals.
Haji Wright back in Antalyaspor training! pic.twitter.com/wmBiHgs53k— Kranks (@dis_possessed) March 4, 2023
On the bench: 🆚 Kasımpaşa x Fraport TAV AntalyasporİLK 11: Helton, Erdal, Bünyamin, Fernando, Güray, Mehmedi, Bertuğ, Larsson, Ömer, Ghacha, Veysel (C).YEDEKLER: Ataberk, Floranus, Cemali, Emrecan, Wright, Ndao, Ufuk, Mampassi, Sinan, Szabo.TEKNİK SORUMLU: Alfons Groenendijk pic.twitter.com/pkaqkvHRzZ— Bitexen Antalyaspor (@Antalyaspor) March 6, 2023 Trailing 2-1 at the half.
Haji subbed on in the 81st as they attempted to close a 3-1 deficit, as part of their final sub window. They wound up losing by that score.
Means nothing. I’ve seen Turkish clubs have a whole-ass live presser introducing (Heath Peace & Bursaspor) a player and then forget to submit paperwork in time for the deal to actually go through.
This is truly one of the craziest stories ever. Pearce goes into it a bit on this podcast: https://bleav.com/shows/the-soccer-soup/episodes/s2-episode-6-heath-pearce/