Galatasaray president Mustafa Cengiz has spoken to Turkish newspaper Milliyet about Badou Ndiaye’s transfer to Stoke City in the last window.
The Senegal international singed for the Premier League club in a deal worth €16m.
During the interview with Milliyet, Cengiz was asked about Stoke City bringing in Ndiaye on transfer deadline day: “We never wanted to sell him. His willingness to play in the Premier League was the key factor. At first, he told our manager Fatih Terim that ‘I want to stay’ so we decided we are not going to sell him because we are targeting silverware this season.”
”But after that, Ndiaye has a very interesting agent. We think he kind of poisoned Ndiaye by talking to him. Our manager Fatih Terim also thinks that way. So after that we decided we need to reassess the offer and we’ve done that. Stoke City really insisted on a transfer and at the end they got the player.”
Stoke City were linked with the 27 year old throughout the last transfer window, along with fellow Premier League side Newcastle United.
In the final week of the window Stoke City stepped up their pursuit of Ndiaye, and managed to get a deal done with Galatasaray in the final hours, despite issues with his work permit.
Ndiaye enjoyed a decent debut for Stoke City in their 2-1 loss to Bournemouth at the weekend, and assisted Xherdan Shaqiri’s goal.
