Colombian striker Jhon Durán is arriving in Istanbul today, July 1, 2025. He is coming with his agent and Fenerbahçe’s football director, Devin Özek. They are finalising a loan deal for Durán to play for Fenerbahçe for one season. He is being loaned from Al-Nassr, a club in the Saudi Pro League.
This transfer has been confirmed by transfer expert Fabrizio Romano and is a big win for Fenerbahçe. The club will pay Durán’s entire salary until June 2026, and there is no loan fee involved.
Durán, who is 21 years old, moved to Al-Nassr from Aston Villa for €77 million in January 2025. Although he scored 12 goals in 18 games, he found it hard to adjust to playing in Saudi Arabia.
He wants to return to Europe, so Fenerbahçe acted quickly. Özek even went to Colombia to convince him to join the team, showing Durán a place to live and explaining the club’s plans under the famous manager José Mourinho.
Additionally, this transfer follows a rule in Türkiye requiring teams to have players born after January 1, 2003, which makes Durán a good choice.
Fans are excited about this move on social media, cheering for Fenerbahçe’s effort to strengthen their team after Edin Džeko left.
They like Durán’s strong playing style, noting his 50% shot accuracy and that he makes 1.8 key passes per match. These skills are expected to help Fenerbahçe in both the Süper Lig and European competitions.
However, some fans are a bit worried, as there have been challenges with South American players adjusting to Turkish football in the past. Other clubs like Napoli also wanted Durán, but he chose Fenerbahçe, partly because of a direct phone call from Mourinho.
Fenerbahçe’s deal with Al-Nassr keeps Durán’s contract until 2030 and shows the club’s plan to bring in talented players to compete against Galatasaray in the Süper Lig.
The financial commitment from Fenerbahçe is significant, covering around €15 million in salary, showing they want to compete at a high level.
As Durán is about to sign the final documents in Istanbul, everyone is eagerly watching to see how he will perform under Mourinho’s guidance in the upcoming 2025/26 season.
