Gabby Sara has completed his move from Norwich City to Turkish champions Galatasaray.
The 25-year-old signed a five year deal for what Gala tweeted to their 15.2m followers on Sunday night was an €18m fee, excluding add ons and bonuses.
Sara’s annual salary will be €2.75m net over the course of his contract. The Canaries confirmed the midfielder had departed for an undisclosed fee, believed to be a club record for the Istanbul giants.
City have negotiated bonuses and player and club performance add ons along with a sell on fee. Former club Sao Paulo are due a percentage of the transfer from the sell on fee they inserted when Sara moved to England.
The playmaker sat out City’s 3-1 friendly defeat to St Pauli on Saturday before boarding a plane for Turkey. Gala officials had flown into Norfolk on Friday to conclude negotiations for the Brazilian midfielder.
Norwich head coach, Johannes Hoff Thorup, confirmed Sara’s exit was close after his squad’s pre-season finale at Carrow Road.
”First of all we should be proud that we have developed a player here to this level in his career,” he said. “Also when we create these type of stories it helps to create the next ones that we can hopefully bring to this club to show them if you can perform in a good league at a good club then you are ready to take the next step.
“I think it’s obvious for everyone, of course, when we leave a player with his abilities out of the squad for a game because it’s getting close. It will not be ideal for us to play him with his head maybe being not somewhere else, but with a difficult decision to take.
“So it was an easy decision for us to take to leave him out. That’s a part of the game and if it will be a transfer for him, then it’s more than well deserved.”
Sara joined from Sao Paulo in 2022, making 96 appearances and winning the club’s player-of-the-year in 2023 before his 25 goal contributions in 46 Championship appearances last season played a major part in the club finishing inside the top six.
The midfielder is believed to have attracted interest from two Premier League clubs and two Serie A clubs this summer before opting for a move to Turkey and the chance of Champions League football this coming season.
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