No sooner than young Kerim announced his preference to be part of the Turkish International set up than there are rumours of a bid for him from Galatasaray. The Club have apparently rejected the opening gambit and set a price of £2.5m (alledgedly) - http://www.fulhamchronicle.co.uk/fulham-fc/2012/06/21/82029-31230441/ There's probably credence in the interest since Galatasaray have a public policy aiming for an all Turkish squad.
Doubt its serious, Frei just chose the Turkish national team so the media is linking him with Galatasaray as they need a winger. There's nothing official from the club. Frei has 3 years on his contract, doubt he's going anywhere unless an offer too good to refuse is made. Personally I think Frei should stay develop and be part of this improving Fulham side. Kids 18, by the time he's 20 Fulham have a potential star on their hands and won a lot of Turkish fans.
I'd only sell him if the bid was £15m plus. That is his potential value, and although I think he will be an asset and a good player, I don't think he will develop to that level.
I think that if sums of 2/3 mil are being bandied about,for the signature of KF, it is plainly taking the p.... Why Frei has played at the highest level in what 15/20 games,and has in most cases got some very creditable reviews. Now take Jorden Rhodes, playing in 2 divisions below the premiership,and the asking/sale price in access of 7 million. We may be that cosy little club down by the river,but we are the star makers. Smalling, Dembele, Dempsey, Hangaland,and of course Roy Hodgson,who when he came to Fulham as a 60yr old manager, career wise was going nowhere. Our chairman when at Harrods stated quality is always that bit more expensive so to all prospective buyers remember the Harrods and not Primark .
Frei is a gem ... Jol would be a fool to let him go, particularly if Dempsey and/or Dembele depart. He's got that fearlessness you see in great players, rarely backing out of an opportunity to play it safe.
Exactly, 1-2 seasons down the line if he keeps developing at this rate and steers clear of any long term injuries I doubt anyone will be able to sign him for under â¬10-15. I wouldn't take these rumors seriously, there's no way he'll go for â¬2-3 million.
I’m not sure how much truth there is in the rumour… It does seem strange it come out within a week of KF stating his intention to represent Turkey at international level I hope there is little truth or no truth in it and we don’t consider letting him go. As Bidley said he has just signed a long term deal with us so we are under no pressure. I’m not bother about AJ, the POG moving on and wasn’t too fussed when Zamora left last January but I would be concerned if KF went… Unless it was for a massive amount of money.
We sold Smalling to Man Utd for £10m based on a handful of appearances and obvious potential, so £2m for Frei is frankly insulting.
That's true, but since when did football clubs (us included) mind insulting other clubs with lower bids than they feel a player deserves? That said, I agree with all those above who have said that we won't sell him this summer unless it's for a much bigger fee than £2m.
It's all in the eye of the beholder, Bandit. We've certainly made bids which are decidedly below the price the other club is asking for. Huddersfield fans may well feel that the £3.5m or thereabouts we've apparently offered for Rhodes is insultingly small. I suspect that it's natural for potential buyers to have a very different perception of a player's value than that of the selling club. When Bournemouth sold Brett Pitman to Bristol City (and also with several other players they have sold in recent years, if it comes to that), the general feeling from Bournemouth fans I know was that the club had let him go too soon and too cheaply. In most cases, I thought that AFCB had done well to get the prices they did. If we hadn't seen Frei play and he was being talked about as a possible signing for us, we'd all be saying, '£10m is a lot of money for a teenager with so few first team games under their belt. And several of them were in the Europa League against inferior opposition.' We'd be wrong, but we've all seen (and probably typed) those kind of remarks in discussions about potential signings in the last couple of years. You can't blame Galatasaray for giving it a try. In Fulham's defence, I can't think of many other clubs who voluntarily made an additional payment for a player, as we did with Smalling when a technicality prevented Maidstone from getting a proper market-forces transfer fee from us, but the point still stands. Any club, including us, will always try to negotiate a transfer deal that is to their best advantage; any team receiving a bid like that will tend to think it's insulting.
Guys firstly no official offer has been made by Galatasaray, it was a media rumor, I've confirmed that a serious bid hasn't been made. However, you can expect to start seeing Frei linked a lot more with the likes of Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, come next season if he keeps improving they'll be knocking on the door with €10m+ offers. The Turkish NT and Turkish clubs in general have seen had a shortage of talented, fast players who can play on the wing. Recently guys like Gokhan Tore, Sercan Sararer, Arda Turan have been coming through. If Kerim Frei keeps this up he'll be one of the most highly rated players for Turkish clubs with the foreign players restrictions coming in, its 6 now will be 5 season after. This has the potential to work out well for Fulham and could really boost their profile in Turkey which is a good market to target right now. Would like to see Burak Yilmaz make the move as well.
