Cenk Tosun reportedly rejected an offer to move to Al Gharafa earlier this month, with the key reason being that his wife didn’t want to relocate to Qatar.
Reports last week claimed that Al Gharafa were keen to add Tosun to their squad before the Qatari transfer deadline on September 30, and that the club were in the process of preparing a ‘substantial’ offer for the forward.
However, talk then went cold, with no word on whether a bid had officially been made, whether Tosun was interested or whether Everton were determined to keep the Turkey international.
Now according to Milliyet (via Sport Witness), Tosun was the one to turn the deal down, despite the offer being a financial increase on his current contract, with his wife preferring to remain in England over moving to the Middle East.
The former Besiktas man also still harbours some hope that he could force his way back into Marco Silva’s immediate plans, a cause of which will of course be helped by Moise Kean and Dominic Calvert-Lewin having struggled so far this season.
According to Milliyet’s report, Tosun will give himself until January to break into Silva’s plans before looking elsewhere for regular first-team football, with Galatasaray and Basaksehir both said to be keen.
Read Everton Verdict
His reason for staying aside, I’m glad that Tosun rejected the offer from Al Gharafa. I was pleased to see him play against Sheffield United on the weekend, and I’m hoping that he will prove that he deserves his place in the squad this season.
Simply put, Everton need him as an option. He is different to the young duo of forwards, and he brings different abilities that Everton can exploit. Hopefully he’ll stay beyond January, hopefully he’ll play more and hopefully he’ll score goals.
