NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 18 – Harambee Stars forward Michael Olunga has attracted interest from Turkish club Galatasaray and Russian giants CSKA Moscow after a stellar debut season in Europe with Swedish side IF Djugardens.
Swedish media is reporting Djugardens will be ready to sell if any of the two clubs who have shown serious interest in the player meets a threshold of between Sh350mn and Sh467mn.
Djugardens Sporting Director Bosse Andersson told Swedish website Expressen they are yet to make a decision on the player who scored 12 goals in his debut season after joining as a free agent from then Kenyan champions Gor Mahia.
“We know there is a great interest for Michael (Olunga). Further, I would not say right now,” Andersson told Expressen.
Newly promoted Chinese Super League side Guizhou Zhicheng Hengfeng FC has also enquired about the forward and are said to be ready to meet the Sh467mn (40mn Swedish Krona) fee asked for by Djugardens.
But Capital Sport understands Olunga is not willing to move to China as yet and prefers a move to Turkey with Galatasaray which has a bigger allure to the top racks of European football.
The 20-time Super Lig champions are said to be waiting on a deal to sell former Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski who is a subject of interest from the mega-rich Chinese League and use the money to finance a move for the goal-sharp Olunga.
In a previous interview with Capital Sport, Olunga had hinted he would move from Stockholm if he got a bigger deal and the Galatasaray bait seems to have interested him.
“Obviously I want a bigger challenge and if it comes through why not. But at the moment, I am focusing on my assignment with Djugardens on the pitch and I have left all other matters to the agent to deal with,” the lanky forward said then.
The former Gor Mahia, Tusker FC and Thika United forward joined Djugardens at the start of last year and signed a four year contract which initially was to keep him at the club till 2020.
Galatasaray are placed third on the Turkish top tier after 17 matches behind leaders Istanbul Başakşehir FK, and second placed Besiktas.