In the wake of striker Victor Osimhen to Napoli, LOSC have announced the signature of Turkish international Burak Yilmaz. Get to know this renowned goalscorer...
LOSC are making waves in the transfer market. Just days after Les Dogues sold Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen to Napoli for a reported €50m - a cool €37m more than they paid to recruit him from Belgian side Charleroi in the summer of 2019 - the club brought in his replacement in the form of Burak Yilmaz, 35, who signed a two-year deal on Saturday.
Habitual top scorer
Yilmaz has been a renowned goalscorer in the Turkish Süper Lig for many years and is now making just a second foray outside his homeland. His career began when he made his professional debut for Antalyaspor at just 18 years of age, making a remarkable debut for the club that was enough to earn him a move to Istanbul's top clubs.
Starting with Beşiktaş in 2006, where he won the cup twice (2006 and 2007). He then went on to play for a number of Turkish clubs: Manisaspor, Fenerbahce, Eskişehirspor, then Trabzonspor, where he won another Turkish Cup (2010). In 2011-2012, still with Trabzonspor, he scored 33 goals in 34 games.
Then coveted by European clubs, Burak Yilmaz decided to stay in his homeland. This time, he headed for Galatasaray (2012), a club with which he continued to torment the SüperLig defences - top scoring in the league with 24 goal in 30 games - while also performing well in the Champions League (eight goals in nine games in 2012-2013). He went on to win another two league titles (2013 and 2015) and two more national cups (2014 and 2015).
A fearsome duo with Yusuf Yazici
Eager to gain experience abroad, he move to Chinese club Beijing Guoan in 2016. Like everywhere he has been, the nets are trembling (19 goals in 28 games). In July 2017, however, the serial striker returned to Turkey, signing for Trabzonspor. In 2017-2018, accompanied by a certain Yusuf Yazici, he marked another excellent season with yet another top-scoring campaign (23 goals in 25 games). Just over a year later, Burak Yilmaz returned to Beşiktaş, this time as captain. Last season, he scored 13 goals and provided 7 assists in 25 league games.
In addition to this great club career, he is also a star for Turkey. With 24 goals in 59 appearances, his national-team career has seen him play in Euro 2016 and play an active role in his team's qualifying for Euro 2021.
The moves announced since Friday 10 July 2020 will be approved by the LFP as of the opening of the second transfer period.
