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Galatasaray president Mustafa Cengiz has spoken at the club’s yearly congress and discussed the signing of Badou Ndiaye from Stoke City last summer.

The Senegal international is currently on a season long loan deal with the Super Lig side following Stoke City’s relegation to the Championship last season.

As covered by Futbol Arena Cengiz said they were very close to loaning Ndiaye for free, but then were told they’d need to pay a loan fee: “As you know, we sold Badou Ndiaye to Stoke City for €16m. After Stoke’s relegation we wanted to get him again and agreed with Stoke to loan him for free. We were very close to getting it done but then the ghouls came in and upped the price. As a result, we paid €750K.”

It seems very likely Cengiz is referring to bitter rivals Fenerbahce or Besiktas as the ghouls because both clubs were interested in signing the player according claims last summer.

It looks like the interest from the two Istanbul clubs gave Stoke City the upper hand, resulting in Galatasaray having to pay a loan fee for the midfielder.

Despite returning to Galatasaray it looks like Ndiaye will be heading back to Stoke City at the end of the season. There have been reports the Championship side want to sell the player outright for up to €17m, which the Turkish side can’t afford.

Subsequently they’ve been linked with other central midfielders in the past week as they plan for next season.