Benfica have reached an agreement in principle to sell Türkiye international Kerem Aktürkoğlu to Fenerbahçe, the Portuguese club said on Friday.
The announcement came just two days after Aktürkoğlu's goal knocked the Turkish club out of the Champions League playoffs and hours after Fenerbahçe announced they had parted ways with manager Jose Mourinho.
Fenerbahçe will pay Benfica 22.5 million euros ($26.34 million) for the winger, with additional performance-related payments that could take the total value of the transfer to 25 million euros, the Portuguese club added in a statement.
Benfica said Galatasaray, Aktürkoğlu's former club, had been informed as they hold a preferential right on the player.
Galatasaray are still set to receive 1.05 million euros from the transfer due to a 10% sell-on clause included in the 26-year-old winger's 12-million-euro move to Benfica last year.
Aktürkoğlu had won consecutive Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray before he left for Portugal.
He is expected to arrive in Istanbul shortly for medical checks before signing his contract with Fenerbahçe, marking one of the most high-profile domestic transfers in recent years.
Fenerbahçe's elimination after a 1-0 defeat by Benfica in their playoff second leg on Wednesday stretched the Yellow Canaries' absence from the Champions League to 17 seasons.
Aktürkoğlu did not celebrate after scoring the goal that proved decisive for the Portuguese side and appeared to eventually cost Mourinho his job at Fenerbahçe, where he arrived just over a year ago in high-profile ceremony.
But he failed to guide the team to a title as Fenerbahçe finished second in the Süper Lig last season, 11 points adrift of rivals Galatasaray.
The Istanbul side began the new campaign by taking four points from their opening two league fixtures. They are chasing their first Süper Lig title since 2014.
But the loss in Lisbon pushed Fenerbahçe into the Europa League, where Friday's draw pitted them against Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia, Aston Villa, Ferencvaros of Hungary, Viktoria Plzen of Czechia, Nice, FCSB of Romania, Stuttgart and Brann of Norway.
The draw, which split the 36 participating clubs into four pots based on UEFA's club coefficient ranking, sorted out eight league phase matches for each team, four at home and four on the road, with two opponents drawn from each pot.
The top eight teams in the league table advance directly to the round of 16 in March. The next 16 teams in the standings play in two-legged knockout playoffs in a bid to join the leading eight.
The Europa League teams will share a prize fund of 565 million euros ($659 million). Each club is guaranteed at least 4.3 million euros.
This season's Europa League final will take place at the Istanbul home of Beşiktaş on May 20, 2026.
