Hull City Owner Names Osimhen Best Foreign Player in Super Lig
Acun Ilicali says Turkish football’s growing spending power has made it far harder for clubs like his to lure players such as Victor Osimhen back to England.
Want our football coverage to show up first?
Add FootballInNigeria as a preferred source and our stories get a "Preferred" badge in your Google Top Stories, AI Overviews, and AI Mode results.
Hull City owner Acun Ilicali has publicly rated Victor Osimhen as the finest foreign player currently plying his trade in Turkey’s Super Lig, even as he admitted his own club has little realistic chance of ever signing him.
Speaking about the rising quality of Turkish football, the businessman, who previously served as a vice president at Fenerbahce, singled out the Galatasaray striker as the standout overseas performer in the league, while naming goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir as the top domestic talent.
Ilicali explained that pulling players out of Turkey has become significantly harder than it used to be, pointing to a sharp rise in transfer fees and wages at the country’s biggest clubs over the past five years. He noted that the financial packages now on offer from Turkey’s top three clubs have overtaken what mid table and lower Premier League sides can pay their own players, a shift that has reshaped the market for a club like Hull City, freshly promoted back to the Premier League.
Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas have all ramped up spending on established international stars in recent seasons, and Osimhen has been one of the clearest beneficiaries of that investment since arriving in Istanbul.
He joined Galatasaray on loan in September 2024 following a public transfer standoff with Napoli, and quickly became one of the club’s most productive forwards, before the move was made permanent for a reported 75 million euros in the summer of 2025. He remains firmly linked with a Premier League return, with Chelsea and Manchester United both continuing to be mentioned as suitors.
Did You Know?
- Victor Osimhen scored 37 goals and provided eight assists in 41 appearances during his 2024-25 season on loan at Galatasaray.
- He broke a 24 year old club record for goals by a foreign player in a single season, previously held by Mario Jardel.
- Osimhen was the Super Lig’s Golden Boot winner with 26 league goals and was named the division’s Player of the Season that campaign.
- Galatasaray made his move permanent for a reported transfer fee of 75 million euros in summer 2025.
- Across his two seasons in Turkey, Osimhen has scored 59 goals and set up 16 more in 74 appearances, winning two Super Lig titles and a Turkish Cup.
- Hull City, whose owner made these comments, recently secured promotion back to the Premier League via the Championship play-offs.
- Galatasaray have reportedly placed a valuation of around 150 million euros on Osimhen amid continued transfer interest from England.
