Amid efforts to comply with UEFA's Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, the Turkish football industry has managed to turn Turkey into an exporter country in European football. Some 10 clubs in Turkey's top tier Süper Lig have earned over 74.3 million euros ($81.27 million) from selling players abroad in the 2019-20 summer transfer window, the highest-ever figure in a single transfer window. The previous highest was recorded at 74 million euros in the 2017-18 season. The summer transfer window, which lasted for 10 weeks, closed at midnight on Monday. Around 40.6% of the 74.3 million euros came from players that were transferred to clubs in Italy. Rising star Yusuf Yazıcı marked the highest transfer, having joined French football club Lille on a five-year deal from Turkish giant Trabzonspor.
The transfer brought a record 16.5 million euros to the Süper Lig side, while Lille, on its part, broke its club record with the signing.
What's more, the fee the Turkish side received will rise to 17.5 million once the 22-year-old makes 25 appearances. Trabzonspor also included a 20% future sale clause in the deal.
The Black Sea Storms have performed really well in the opening weeks and sold the most players abroad this season.
Istanbul giant Fenerbahçe was also among the busiest during the transfer window. It sold young talent Eljif Elmas to Serie A's Napoli earlier this summer.
The North Macedonia international joined the Italian club for 16 million euros, with an additional 1.5 million euros in performance-based bonuses. Fenerbahçe will also receive a maximum of 1.5 million euros if Napoli decides to sell the 19-year-old in the future.
Having inked a settlement agreement within the scope of FFP regulations last year, Istanbul giants Galatasaray made some 9.4 million euros from players it sold abroad this season.
The other Istanbul powerhouse Beşiktaş, which was among the most active clubs in the transfer season over the recent years generated 2 million euros from the transfer of its Chilean midfielder Gary Medel to Italian club Bologna.
Alanyaspor, Kasımpaşa, Malatyaspor, Gençlerbirliği, Antalyaspor and Denizlispor were among other clubs selling footballers abroad.
Transfers brought Alanyaspor some 11 million euros, while Kasımpaşa, Malatyaspor, Gençlerbirliği, Antalyaspor earned some 10 million euros, 3.8 million euros, 3 million euros and 2 million euros, respectively.
Having previously sold Turkish defender Merih Demiral to Serie A side Sassuolo in January 2019, Alanyaspor was also able to sell footballer to Mexico as well.
Demiral did not stay at Sassuolo for long as his impressive performances did not go unnoticed. The 21-year-old joined Italian giants Juventus in July and inked a five-year contract. Juventus agreed to pay 18 million euros to Sassuolo for Demiral.
Meanwhile, Italy led the way in Turkey's football talent exports with 41% of the players going there, followed by France with 22.5%, the U.K. with 13.4%, Saudi Arabia with 8%, Spain with 6.3%, Belgium with 4.4%, Mexico with 2.1%, the Netherlands with 1.6% and Germany with 0.7%.
On the other hand, the market value of Turkish nationals playing across Europe is increasing rapidly.
The successful Turkish winger Cengiz Ünder tops the list with a value of some 35 million euros. The 22-year-old, who signed a contract with Serie A giants Roma in the summer of 2017 after he played for the Turkish Süper Lig club Istanbul Başakşehir in the 2016-17 season, has recently put pen to paper on a new four-year deal with the club that runs until June 30, 2023.
Among others, Serie A side Milan's midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu has a market value of 20 million euros, followed by English Premier League club Leicester City's central defender Çağlar Söyüncü and the Black Sea giants Trabzonspor's young talent Abdülkadir Ömür with approximately 15 million euros each.
The rank in the list of the most expensive footballers sold abroad has not changed much after this season.
Former Beşiktaş striker Cenk Tosun moved to English Premier League club Everton in January 2018 in a 22 million euro deal, a record-breaker, as he became the most expensive player ever to be transferred from a Turkish club.
Yusuf Yazıcı comes second with his transfer to French Lille, followed by Badou Ndiaye, Eljif Elmas and Moussa Sow, all of whom brought their clubs around 16 million euros each.