Burak Yilmaz replaces Victor Osimhen at Lille

 

French Ligue 1 club, LOSC Lille, has replaced Victor Osimhen sold to Napoli with a Turkish hitman, Burak Yilmaz.

Osimhen had completed his move to the Serie A team last week after several days of negotiation. Lille is expected to get around €50m for the deal – a fresh €37m more than the amount they got him from Royal Cheleroi a season ago.

The 35-year-old Turkish international joined the Ligue 1 side after signing a two-year deal.

This will be the second time that Yilmaz will be moving out of Turkey has made headway in the Turkish League as a renowned goalscorer for many years.

The striker began his career with Antalyaspor when he made his debut at the age of 18. His performance for the side earned him a move to Istanbul’s top club, Besiktas.

In 2006, he won the cup twice (2006 and 2007) with Besiktas before moving on to play for  Manisaspor, Fenerbahce, Eskişehirspor, and Trabzonspor, where he won another Turkish Cup in 2010. He continued from where he stopped the next season with the club in 2011-2012 to score 33 goals in 34 games.

His performance caught the attention of several European clubs, but he decided to stay in his homeland and headed to Galatasaray in 2012. He continued his rich vein of form in front of goal by being the league top scorer with 24 goals in 30 games. Yilmaz also scored eight goals from nine games for the side in the Champions League of 2012/2013 season.

In the same season, his efforts got Galatasaray the league title, which they later won again in 2015 before another two national cups in 2014 and 2015.

His first experience outside Turkey was with a Chinese club Beijing Guoan, which he joined in 2016. He experienced success here too and scored 19 goals in 28 games.

He only spent a season with the club and returned to Turkey in July 2017, for his second stint with Trabzonspor.

In the 2017-2018 season, Yilmaz, who was partnered in the striking role by Yusuf Yazici, had another excellent season by emerging the league top scorer again, scoring 23 goals in 25 games.

Last season, he returned to Beşiktaş for the second time and captained the club to third on the log, losing the title to  İstanbul Başakşehir on three points He scored 13 goals and created 7 assists in 25 league games.

His transfer iis subjected to confirmation by the LFP.

 

 

Written by: Oladipupo Mojeed