Fenerbahce "just bet the house on Robin van Persie," according to Ant & Finkel of BLOOMBERG. The Istanbul club "agreed last week" to pay the former ManU striker as much as $6.2M a year. While entry to the UEFA Champions League "would pay at least twice van Persie’s keep, failure risks inflating debt that’s jumped" to $184M from $1M in four years. Fenerbahce is not "the only high roller in Turkey." Half of the most debt-laden clubs in the Stoxx European Football index are Turkish, "reflecting the growing disconnect between the stakes that the country’s clubs are paying and their success in the biggest competitions." Turkey’s "only side ever to win a European trophy is Galatasaray." It "signed world cup winner Lukas Podolski from Arsenal this year." Emre Deliveli, an Istanbul-based consultant for Roubini Global Economics, said, "Galatasaray is buying because Fenerbahce is buying, and Fenerbahce is buying because Galatasaray is buying. It’s what economists would call a war of attrition." Fenerbahce did not respond to requests for comment by telephone and e-mail. Club President Aziz Yildirim said that "he was trimming long-term liabilities by letting some players leave." That is "not the only way clubs can balance their books." Besiktas, also an Istanbul team, signed a $145M sponsorship deal with Vodafone Group Plc’s Turkish unit in '13. Fenerbahce is negotiating a $100M, 10-year deal over naming rights "for its stadium with Yildiz Holding AS’s confectionery brand Ulker." Tugrul Aksar, a football economist in Istanbul who writes for financial newspaper Dunya, said that debt for Turkish clubs looks "unsustainable." He added, "The logic of paying for current transfers with future performance is flawed" (BLOOMBERG, 7/21).
