Başakşehir striker Stefano Okaka has revealed he once turned down a huge offer from China, because Everton and Tottenham had shown an interest in him.
Okaka has been with Başakşehir since last summer, having arrived in a £1.35m deal from Udinese.
They are the latest club in a long and varying career thus far that started with Cittadella and AS Roma’s U19s and took him to the Roma first team, Parma, Sampdoria, Anderlecht, Fulham, Watford and Udinese to name a few.
His first spell in the Premier League came during a loan period with Fulham in 2010 but he would return six years later when Watford paid £5.4m to sign him from Anderlecht.
It was arguably with the Belgian side where he really flourished, bagging 17 goals and four assists in 49 games, numbers he’s only matched at Udinese (18 goals, 5 assists in 75 games) and Başakşehir (15 goals, 4 assists in 47 games).
And according to the striker, there was interest from Everton and Tottenham at that point in his career, so much so he turned down big money in China to wait for them.
“Yes, when I was at Anderlecht,” he told Calciomercato when asked about a ‘major offer’ from China.
“The club was pushing to sell me to China, but I was 26 and I didn’t feel like it. I wanted to go to the Premier League, there was Everton and Tottenham.
“So, I said no to a super offer: when you see certain figures it is not easy to reject them, but my love for football is greater than my love for money.”
