France midfielder Ngolo Kante has signed for Fenerbahçe from Saudi outfit Al-Ittihad thanks to support from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish club said on Wednesday.
World Cup winner Kante, who turns 35 next month, had been set to move to İstanbul earlier, but the transfer seemed to have failed due to an administrative error.
The length of Kante’s contract has not been revealed, but it offers the two-time Premier League winning midfielder (Leicester 2016, Chelsea 2017) a chance to further his claim for a place in France’s World Cup finals squad.
Erdoğan was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday making his first visit to the country in more than two years.
“Our club has successfully completed the transfer of N’Golo Kante, a prominent figure in world football,” Fenerbahçe President Sadettin Saran said.
“On behalf of myself and our club, I would like to express my gratitude to our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his significant support in ensuring the positive conclusion of this process, which will contribute to the development of both Fenerbahçe and Turkish football,” he added.
Fenerbahçe, 19 times Turkish champions, have also signed Kante’s fellow France midfielder Matteo Guendouzi during the winter transfer window.
They are locked in a tight battle for the league title, three points off fellow-İstanbul side Galatasaray and face English outfit Nottingham Forest in the Europa League knockout phase play-offs later this month.
© Agence France-Presse