Yagiz Sambuncuoglu reported on Benfica’s attempt to sign Vangelis Pavlidis.

The reputable Turkish journalist stated on his show on a Turkish media outlet that, despite the fact that everything had started off and seemed straightforward for the Greek forward’s transfer to go through, things are now completely different, and the chances of the deal ultimately going through are extremely slim.

According to available information, the Portuguese club’s demands are such that the Turkish club cannot meet them. At Benfica, they believe that Pavlidis is a striker whose absence they will not be able to… fill with anyone else. Thus, they are unwilling to let him go, sending the message to Fenerbahçe that if they want to sign him, they’ll have to pay the buyout clause, which is reportedly around 100 million euros.

Obviously, the Turkish club is unable to reach those levels. The latest offer came in at 50 million euros, which was not accepted.

“Pavlidis’s transfer is currently a difficult prospect. In fact, at the initial stage, it seemed like a highly likely transfer. Fenerbahçe made a good offer to the player’s side, and Pavlidis accepted it.

After that, Cihan Kamer traveled to Portugal to meet with the player’s agent, Arturo Canales. At that time, he met with Arturo Canales and Mario Branco at Benfica and said they had received a good offer from Fenerbahçe and wanted to consider it if the conditions were right.

But Benfica shut the door. Once Benfica shut the door, Fenerbahçe’s verbal offer no longer made any sense. Later, I had several phone conversations with the Benfica team, even every day leading up to the match. They said that there is currently a serious shortage of center forwards on the market and that they definitely aren’t selling Pavlidis, regardless of the player’s wishes or his contract and so on, and it seems they’ve closed the door for now,” the Turkish journalist noted.

Yağız Sabuncuoğlu: “Pavlidis is currently in a difficult transfer situation. Actually, at first it looked like a highly likely transfer just a few days ago. Because Fenerbahçe made a good offer to the player, and Pavlidis accepted it.
Following that, the player’s… pic.twitter.com/EsCducrlzj

— Fener Ajans (@ajansfenercom) August 6, 2026

*photo source: AP