The Belgian league joint leading scorer Tolu Arokodare, who is on the Super Eagles watch list, has admitted he was close to signing for Turkish giants Trabzonspor this past summer.
However, his coach at Genk talked him out of the transfer after telling him that he could instead get him to play in the Premier League in England within a year of working with him.
Arokodare told Het Laatste Nieuws: “It’s true that I was almost gone, but (Thorsten) Fink (Genk coach) convinced me to stay.
“Look, I didn’t really want to go to Turkey. At my age, you should only do that if it’s Galatasaray, Besiktas and Fenerbahçe. Yet at some point I started considering it.”
“Why? Because there was no more positive energy around me. I felt like I couldn’t do anything right anymore.
“Financially, I could also do a good thing.”
He continued: “Fink reassured me completely. He didn’t think I was a player for Turkey. ‘Stay with me for one year and you’ll be in the Premier League’, he said. Something like that gives you a lot of confidence.”
