Besiktas target immediate silverware after choosing Dusan Vlahovic over Mohamed Salah

Besiktas president Serdar Adalı says the club prioritised signing Dusan Vlahovic over Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian forward’s demands failed to fit the club’s plans or principles.

Salah ultimately moved to Turkish club Trabzon, but Adalı revealed that he had made a significant effort to persuade Besiktas manager Vincenzo Italiano and his coaching staff to approve a deal for the former Liverpool forward.

“When the Salah deal was offered to us, I made a great effort to convince the manager and the technical staff,” Adalı told Turkish outlet Duhuliye, which specialises in Besiktas news.

“The manager and the technical staff did not want him. But the conditions requested by Salah and his agent did not align with our club’s principles, and they were not part of the plan we had prepared at the beginning of the transfer window. When the conditions did not match, we withdrew.”

Adalı said pursuing Salah would also have prevented Besiktas from completing the signing of Vlahovic, the striker Italiano had identified as his preferred target.

“If we had signed Salah, we would not have been able to bring in Vlahovic, who the manager wanted,” he said. “I am very happy that I completed the deal the manager wanted.”

The Besiktas president described Italiano as the club’s most important signing of the summer and said the Italian coach had been positive from the moment he arrived.

“Our biggest signing is our manager, Vincenzo Italiano,” said Adalı. “He has always been positive since the first day he arrived. After he started working with the team, he said: ‘We have a very good team, president. Bring me a good striker and, if our finances allow it, let’s get Vlahovic. That’s enough.’”

Adalı also revealed that negotiations for Vlahovic had begun in June. He acknowledged that deals for high-profile players can take considerable time, recalling that he spent four months trying to bring Quaresma to Besiktas.

“We had also been negotiating with Vlahovic since June,” he said. “He is a player with a strong character and great enthusiasm, and he fulfilled everything he promised me.”

The president also expressed his satisfaction with the arrivals of Leandro Trossard and Alexander Nubel. He said Nubel’s performances and quality, together with the reputation of a player such as Trossard wearing the Besiktas shirt, had delighted him and the club’s supporters.

“Nubel’s performance and quality, and seeing a name like Trossard wearing the Besiktas shirt, makes me very happy, just like all the fans,” Adalı said. “All of our other players also have a special value.”

Adalı insisted that Besiktas are building for success this season rather than preparing only for the longer term. The club’s objective, he said, is to challenge for trophies immediately.

“We have a team that wants to win the championship this season, straight away, not in three or five years,” he said. “I previously said I would bring players nobody would expect, and I stand by my word.”