Galatasaray's new transfer Roland Sallai made history before stepping onto the field.

Galatasaray completed its summer transfer by adding Roland Sallai from German Bundesliga team Freiburg to its squad. The new transfer of the yellow-reds made history for the club even before stepping onto the field.

FIRST HUNGARIAN FOOTBALLER IN GALATASARAY HISTORY

Roland Sallai became the first Hungarian footballer in the history of the yellow-red club. "Cimbom," which previously included 206 foreign players from 52 different countries in its squad, transferred a Hungarian player for the first time by adding Roland Sallai from the German team Freiburg to its squad.

PERFORMANCE IN THE PREVIOUS SEASON

Roland Sallai played 37 matches with Bundesliga team Freiburg last season. The Hungarian winger scored 8 goals and made 4 assists in the 37 matches he played with Freiburg in the 2023-2024 season.

OTHER TRANSFERS OF GALATASARAY

Galatasaray, the champion of the Trendyol Super League in the last 2 seasons, started the transfer period by acquiring the transfer rights of Hakim Ziyech, who was in its squad last season. The yellow-red team signed Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi, 21-year-old right-back Elias Jelert from Denmark's Copenhagen team, Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara from England's Norwich City team, and Victor Osimhen from Italy's Napoli team.

MOST FOREIGN PLAYERS FROM BRAZIL

Since the start of the Super League, formerly known as the Turkish 1st Football League, in the 1959 season until this transfer period, Galatasaray has signed contracts with 201 foreign players from 6 continents and 52 countries. Cimbom used its transfer rights for the most Brazilian players in the last 64 years. The yellow-red team added 25 "Sambacı" players to its squad. Yugoslavia ranked second with 16 players, while Romania ranked third with 15 players.

FOREIGNERS OF TURKISH DESCENT

Galatasaray had 7 players with citizenship of another country. Kubilay Türkyılmaz, Hakan Yakın, and Eren Derdiyok had Swiss passports, Pierre Esser and Kerem Demirbay had German citizenship, Jimmy Durmaz played for the Swedish national team, and Yusuf Demir had an Austrian passport.

FOREIGN PLAYERS OF GALATASARAY

Foreign players that Galatasaray has added to its squad since 1959 and their countries are as follows;

• Brazil: 25 / Claudio Taffarel, Capone, Bruno Quadros, Marcio, Mario Jardel, Joao Batista, Felipe, Fabio Pinto, Christian, Cesar Prates, Flavio Conceiçao, Cassio Lincoln, Elano Blumer, Jo, Felipe Melo, Cris, Alex Telles, Maicon Roque, Mariano Filho, Fernando Reges, Marcao, Gustavo Assunçao, Tete, Carlos Vinicius, Gabriel Sara
• Yugoslavia: 16 / Vladimir Nikolovski, Tatomir Radunovic, Ahmet Celovic, Ljubomir Milic, Bosko Kajganic, Jusuf Hatunic, Esref Jasarevic, Vladimir Pejovic, Resad Kunovac, Lasklo Lerinc, Tarık Hodzic, Mirsad Sedjic, Zoran Simovic, Cevad Prekazi, Mirsad Kovacevic, Stevica Kuzmanovski
• Romania: 15 / Iosif Rotariu, Iulian Filipescu, Gheorghe Hagi, Adrian Ilie, Gheorghe Popescu, Ion Ionut Lutu, Radu Niculescu, Gabriel Tamas, Ovidiu Petre, Florin Bratu, Bogdan Stancu, Iasmin Latovlevici, Florin Andone, Alexandru Cicaldau, Olimpiu Morutan
• France: 10 / Didier Six, Sebastian Perez, Franck Ribery, Lionel Carole, Bafetimbi Gomis, Cedric Carrasso, Steven Nzonzi, Sacha Boey, Leo Dubois, Tanguy Ndombele
• Germany: 9 / Rüdiger Abramczik, Reinhard Stumpf, Falko Götz, Torsten Gütschow, Pierre Esser, Kevin Grosskreutz, Lukas Podolski, Kerem Demirbay, Derrick Köhn
• Netherlands: 7 / Ulrich van Gobbel, Frank de Boer, Wesley Sneijder, Ryan Donk, Nigel de Jong, Ryan Babel, Patrick van Aanholt
• Argentina: 7 / Marcelo Carrusca, Leo Franco, Emiliano Insua, Emmanuel Culio, Guillermo Burdisso, Lucas Ontivero, Mauro Icardi
• Colombia: 7 / Faryd Mondragon, Gustavo Victoria, Jersson Gonzalez, Robinson Zapata, Juan Pablo Pino, Radamel Falcao, Davinson Sanchez
• Portugal: 6 / Abel Xavier, Fernando Meira, Armindo Bruma, Josue Pesqueira, Gedson Fernandes, Sergio Oliveira
• Nigeria: 6 / Dominic Iorfa, Henry Onyekuru, Valentine Ozornwafor, Jesse Sekidika, Oghenekaro Etebo, Victor Osimhen
• Switzerland: 6 / Kubilay Türkyılmaz, Adrian Knup, Hakan Yakın, Blerim Dzemaili, Eren Derdiyok, Haris Seferovic
• Ivory Coast: 6 / Abdulkader Keita, Emmanuel Eboue, Didier Drogba, Jean Michael Seri, Wilfried Zaha, Serge Aurier
• Belgium: 5 / Mbo Mpenza, Jason Denayer, Luis Cavanda, Dries Mertens, Mitchy Batshuayi
• Spain: 5 / Albert Riera, Jose Rodrigues, Inaki Pena, Juan Mata, Angelino
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: 4 / Elvir Bolic, Elvir Balic, Zvjezdan Misimovic, Izet Hajrovic
• Cameroon: 4 / Rigobert Song, Alioum Saidou, Dany Nounkeu, Aurelien Chedjou
• Czech Republic: 4 / Pavel Horvath, Marek Heinz, Milan Baros, Tomas Ujfalusi
• Sweden: 4 / Roger Ljung, Tobias Linderoth, Johan Elmander, Jimmy Durmaz
• Uruguay: 4 / Andres Fleurquin, Fernando Muslera, Marcelo Saracchi, Lucas Torreira
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: 4 / Ali Lukunku, Shabani Nonda, Christian Luyindama, Cedric Bakambu
• Senegal: 4 / Mohamed Sarr, Badou Ndiaye, Mbaye Diagne, Ismail Jakobs
• Norway: 3 / Martin Linnes, Omar Elabdellaoui, Fredrik Midtsjö
• Morocco: 3 / Nordin Amrabat, Younes Belhanda, Hakim Ziyech
• Denmark: 3 / Victor Nelsson, Mathias Ross, Elias Jelert
• Poland: 2 / Roman Kosecki, Marek Godlewski
• Mexico: 2 / Sergio Almaguer, Giovani dos Santos
• England: 2 / Barry Venison, Mike Marsh
• Croatia: 2 / Robert Spehar, Stjepan Tomas
• Ghana: 2 / Richard Kingson, Ahmet Barusso
• Albania: 2 / Klodian Duro, Lorik Cana
• Australia: 2 / Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill
• Japan: 2 / Junichi Inamoto, Yuto Nagatomo
• Algeria: 2 / Ismael Bouzid, Sofiane Feghouli
• USA: 2 / Brad Friedel, DeAndre Yedlin
• Italy: 2 / Morgan de Sanctis, Nicolo Zaniolo
• Serbia: 1 / Sasa Ilic
• Iran: 1 / Naser Sadeghi
• Suriname: 1 / Ulrich Watson
• Lithuania: 1 / Gintaras Stauce
• Zimbabwe: 1 / Norman Mapeza
• Wales: 1 / Dean Saunders
• Israel: 1 / Haim Revivo
• North Macedonia: 1 / Goran Pandev
• Cape Verde: 1 / Garry Rodrigues
• Iceland: 1 / Kolbeinn Sigthorsson
• Greece: 1 / Konstantinos Mitroglou
• Gabon: 1 / Mario Lemina
• Egypt: 1 / Mustafa Muhammed
• Chile: 1 / Erick Pulgar
• Austria: 1 / Yusuf Demir
• Kosovo: 1 / Milot Rashica
• Canada: 1 / Samuel Adekugbe
• Hungary: 1 / Roland Sallai

Note: Players who later acquired Turkish citizenship are considered foreign in the news.