the nice double blow of Galatasaray, who recruits Mertens and Torreira
Belgian international Dries Mertens and Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira are both delighted with Galatasaray, the Turkish club announced on Monday evening.
Two announcements in nine minutes. The Turkish club Galatasaray formalized in quick succession, this Monday evening, the signings of Belgian international Dries Mertens and Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira.
The Istanbul club posted two messages on Twitter wishing “Welcome to Galatasaray” to its two new recruits, pictured with their new red and gold jerseys.
“Our new recruits Lucas Ferreira and Dries Mertens have had health checks in our partner hospital,” he said again under the photo of the two players, all smiles.
They will play with Léo Dubois
“I was honored to receive the offer from Galatasaray,” Mertens said, still according to a tweet from his new club. “I am very happy and very excited to be a new Galatasaray player”, replied in return, and in English, Lucas Torreira who said he was “convinced that this is the beginning of a long history and a success together”.
The announcement puts an end to a false suspense since the two players arrived this weekend in Istanbul, expected and celebrated by the club’s supporters at the airport.
Neapolitan since 2013, Dries Mertens, 35, nicknamed “the devil”, became in 2020 the top scorer in the history of SSC Naples by overtaking the Slovak Marek Hamsík. On August 3, he posted a black and white video on his Twitter account for his Neapolitan supporters, saying in Italian, his baby in his arms: “It’s not a farewell, only a goodbye”. Lucas Torreira, born in 1996 in Uruguay, joined Arsenal in 2018 for an apparent fee at the time of 28.5 million euros. In 2020 he was loaned for a season to Atlético de Madrid and in 2021, he joined Fiorentina, for one year, against 1.5 million euros.
Turkey’s most successful team, 22 times champion, Galatasaray finished 13th in the Süper Lig last season, the worst ranking in its history. Last month, France defender and ex-Lyon captain Léo Dubois signed with the club for three seasons on the Bosphorus.