Wout Weghorst’s representative in Turkey, Mithat Halis, has revealed that he told Galatasaray to sign the Burnley forward instead of Wilfried Zaha and Tete, hugely talking up his client.
The 31-year-old centre forward joined Burnley in the winter of 2022 as the Clarets looked to survive, but then left on loan following relegation, failing to return last summer.
Weghorst, who is currently on loan with Hoffenheim, was linked with a move to Galatasaray in the summer.
Halis revealed that he talked up Weghorst to the Turks and told them that the Burnley star has brilliant attributes and is far better than Zaha and Tete.
He added that he held a face-to-face meeting with Okan Buruk and claimed that the coach and the Galatasaray executives were convinced of Weghorst, but at the last moment they changed their decision.
“Weghorst is one of the strikers with a high defensive aspect”, Halis said on Turkish radio station Radyospor.
“I spoke to Galatasaray and I said ‘don’t buy Zaha and Tete’.
“I said, ‘buy Weghorst; you won’t have any problems because Weghorst would not only replace Icardi, but he would be worth 10 Zahas, 20 Tetes’.
“I talked to Okan Buruk about this one-on-one, I talked to his assistants.
“I talked to Galatasaray executives.
“They were all positive about Weghorst. But at the last moment, they bought Zaha and Tete.”
Weghorst has scored five times for Hoffenheim in 20 league games so far this season and the Burnley forward has been linked with a move to Dutch outfit FC Twente in the summer.
