STOKE CITY HAVE completed the signing of midfielder Badou Ndiaye from Galatasaray for a fee of €16 million.
The Senegal international completed his medical on Tuesday before personal terms were agreed and a work permit was secured on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old has been capped seven times by his country and will be eyeing a starting berth for the Potters’ trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
“It’s a very good team in England, so I’m very happy and proud,” he told Stoke’s official website.
“I’m really, really happy. As I said, I wanted to join Stoke City. Today I’m here, I truly hope I will have a good time here and help the team do well.”
Ndiaye arrived in England on Tuesday after Stoke agreed a fee with the Turkish giants, but due to British employment administration, was forced to leave the country before he could return with his new documentation.
He had arrived in England on a temporary visa to complete his medical, and despite eventually being cleared for a work permit had to head back to Manchester airport so that he could depart for Paris and then re-enter the UK as a Premier League player rather than as a temporary visitor.
With Senegal 24th in the Fifa world rankings, Ndiaye would have needed to have played more than 60% of his country’s fixtures in the past 24 months in order to gain a permit automatically.
Senegal have played 19 matches in the last two years, but Ndiaye has played in only 10 of them, and so just missed out on the threshold – hence his quick return flight to Paris.
The midfielder only joined Galatasaray in the summer, arriving for £7.7m from Osmanlispor.
- Omni
