Vlahovic Arrives in Istanbul, Besiktas Signing Friday
The Serbian striker is expected in Istanbul at 2:30 p.m., then medical tests. Besiktas is offering three years and eight million euros net per season, with the signing set for Friday at 7:03 p.m.
Paperwork for the biggest Serbian transfer of the summer was finalized in Belgrade. Besiktas president Serdal Adali flew to the Serbian capital to close the deal for Dusan Vlahovic, and today at 2:30 p.m. local time he returns to Istanbul, landing at the general aviation terminal of Ataturk Airport. The Serbian center forward is expected in the Turkish metropolis at the same time.
Medical tests come first once Vlahovic lands. The formal signing follows only after those are done, and the club has already set the ceremony: Friday at 7:03 p.m. at Tupras Stadium. The minute is no accident, it is a nod to 1903, the year the club was founded.
The terms were known before the player even set foot on Turkish soil. It is a three year contract worth eight million euros net per season, and with performance bonuses the annual salary can top ten million. On base salary alone, that is 24 million euros net across three seasons. On top of that comes a signing bonus reported to be a double digit figure in the millions of euros. Turkish journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu was first to report the agreement on personal terms, while A Spor carried the details of the travel and medical tests.
Vlahovic (26) has been a free agent since July 1. His Juventus contract expired on June 30, he turned down an extension, leaving Turin without the striker it had signed from Fiorentina in January 2022 for a fee reported between 80 and 85.4 million euros. Across four and a half years in Juventus colors, he played 168 matches, scored 68 goals and added 16 assists.
Why didn’t Vlahovic end up at one of Europe’s giants?
Big names circled his signature over the summer. Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and Atletico Madrid were all mentioned, but none of those clubs made a concrete official offer. According to Italian media, no club was willing to meet his wage demands, and the wait dragged on for six weeks from the day he became a free agent.
During that stretch, the deal with the Turks gathered pace. Agent Federico Pastorello pushed the negotiations hard in the final days, and Adali then boarded a plane to Belgrade. Besiktas landed the striker without paying a transfer fee, meaning the entire cost of the deal went into salary and bonuses.
Reunited with an Italian
A familiar face awaits Vlahovic in Istanbul. Besiktas are coached by Vincenzo Italiano, the manager who had him at Fiorentina during the spell when the Serbian forward scored the most goals of his career. The two already know each other well, and that is likely one reason Besiktas entered the race for a player of this caliber at all.
The move closes a circle that began at Humska. Vlahovic left Partizan for Fiorentina in 2018, moved from Florence to Turin, and now exits Serie A for the first time since arriving in Italy as a teenager.
What comes next is short and clear: medical tests today, the ceremony on Friday at 7:03 p.m. at Tupras Stadium.
Turkish football is not the level Vlahovic wanted to continue his career at, and nobody in Istanbul hides that. At 26, though, he gets a contract nobody in Europe offered him this summer, and the status of undisputed first choice striker instead of another season of rotation and waiting. How that plays out on the pitch will be clear from his first appearance in the black and white shirt.
