Rumours of Fenerbahce interest in Ibrahim Afellay have been bubbling in Turkey over the past week. Transfer season has truly started in the Turkish media, like elsewhere around Europe, and that Afellay is a Premier League player who was once at Barcelona makes hyping things up a little easier.
However, there’s a major part of the story which doesn’t make a great deal of sense, or any sense at all. Aspor report that Fenerbahce believe there’s a good chance of Stoke City releasing Afellay from his contract this summer, and letting the player leave on a free transfer.
Given the Dutchman only renewed his Stoke contract this month, that would be a strange scenario. There’s little use in reneweing a player’s contract if he’s going to be released from it a few months later. It’s believable that Mark Hughes could sell Afellay in the summer, and the renewal would help with a transfer fee, but that isn’t the scenario put forward in Turkey.
