Suárez on the Way to Kadıköy: Sporting's Colombian Goal Machine Shook Hands with Fenerbahçe

Another transfer bomb exploded with hours to go before the Fenerbahçe presidential election. Fabrizio Romano announced with his "exclusive" announcement shared on X on Tuesday evening that Hakan Safi has reached an agreement in principle with Sporting CP's Colombian star Luis Suárez. Yağız Sabuncuoğlu, who gave the news in parallel in Turkish media, stated that the contract is 3+1 years and that Hakan Safi has reached full agreement with the player on personal terms. While outlets like Trend Spor and Fanatik confirmed the news, Transfermarkt also recorded the development with the sentence "Suárez agreed on personal terms within Hakan Safi's project."

An important note: This is Colombian Luis Javier Suárez Charris, NOT the former Uruguayan Liverpool/Barcelona/Atletico Madrid star Luis Suárez. The two players only share name similarity. Colombian Suárez was born on December 2, 1997 in Santa Marta — he is now 28 years old, 1.85m tall, a classic right-footed 9. His jersey number at Sporting CP is 97. He is known as one of Europe's most prolific wingers in the peak years of his career.

The structure of the transfer has not yet been completed in both legs. First leg: Hakan Safi must be elected president at the Extraordinary General Election on June 6-7. Aziz Yıldırım is also in the race and the result is still uncertain. Second leg: If Safi wins, Fenerbahçe must agree with Sporting CP on the transfer fee. Suárez's contract with Sporting runs until June 30, 2030 — meaning he is under contract for another 4 years. Market value is in the 27-30 million Euros band. Sporting only bought him from Almeria in the summer of 2025 for 22.95 million Euros transfer fee; it is likely to demand a serious figure for the scorer whose price has increased in one season.

Suárez's 2025-26 season was extraordinary. He played 53 matches in all fronts with Sporting CP shirt, scored 38 goals, made 9 assists. Only in Portuguese Liga Portugal he played 32 matches with a performance of 28 goals and 7 assists — he became one of Portugal's most prolific players. He contributed to Sporting CP's effective play in the Champions League group stages. His FotMob average rating is 7.88, which is one of the league's best performance values. He was placed in the same ranks as stars like Ralfi Cobolli and Lewandowski. Suárez was also invited to the Colombia National Team squad for the 2026 World Cup squad. He has been wearing the national jersey since 2020.

His career story is the story of a migrating scorer. Suárez, who started his professional career at Colombia's Leones team in 2015, came to Spain on loan to Granada B in 2016. He signed a contract with Watford between 2017-2020 but never appeared in the Premier League; he played on loan at Valladolid B (2017-18), Gimnastic (2018-19) and Real Zaragoza (2019-20). He returned to Granada in 2020 and spent two seasons in La Liga. In 2022, Marseille brought him to France but he could not catch the level he wanted there. He played at Almeria on loan in 2023 and permanently between 2023-2025. Here he became the Segunda División's top scorer, played a key role in their promotion to La Liga. In the summer of 2025, he transferred to Sporting CP for 22.95 million Euros and experienced the brightest season of his life.

On the Fenerbahçe side, Hakan Safi's transfer portfolio is truly enormous. Principle agreements with Lewandowski (Barcelona), Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter), Merih Demiral, Mason Greenwood (Marseille), steps for Salih Özcan and Zeki Çelik, and a plan to bring Antonio Conte as head coach with a 2-year contract is also on the agenda. Suárez is essentially the last bomb of the "vision package" for the candidate. Safi had said in his last statement in Antalya, "We will build one of the most ambitious squads in history. We will make transfer announcements very soon" — now this statement is confirmed with Romano's announcement. It is certain that the Suárez transfer will be one of the biggest bombs in the Turkish Super League.

Fenerbahçe fans are holding their breath until Sunday's election result. If Safi wins, the possibility of huge names like Lewandowski, Suárez and Hakan Çalhanoğlu coming to Kadıköy increases seriously. If Aziz Yıldırım wins, the picture changes — it is not yet certain whether Suárez is among Yıldırım's transfer priorities. On the other hand, there are rumours that Liverpool is also interested in Suárez; if Sporting CP really continues its value-gaining strategy with the contract until 2030, the transfer will not be cheap. The next few days will be decisive for both the Turkish and European transfer markets.

Source: Fabrizio Romano (X), Yağız Sabuncuoğlu

Image: fanatik.com.tr