Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu, once a target for Manchester United and Chelsea, has offered to go without pay for the next four months after being handed a ban by FIFA.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld the Turkish international’s suspension, which relates to Çalhanoğlu’s failure to uphold an agreed move from Karlsruhe to Trabzonspor in 2011. In addition to the ban, he has been required to repay a €100,000 fee he received from the Süper Lig club at the time.
“Bayer 04 has nothing to do with the incidents at that time,” he said in a statement.
“It is self-evident to me that I will not harm the club any further and for the time that I am banned, I will forego my salary.”
"For the time that I am banned, I will forego my salary." @hakanc10 makes a big gesture to ⚫️🔴 after receiving a 4-month ban from FIFA pic.twitter.com/aY0x4IQSs8
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) February 7, 2017
A 22-year-old set-piece specialist, Çalhanoğlu scored for Turkey in a friendly against England ahead of Euro 2016 and played twice for his country at the tournament in France as they were eliminated after the group stages.
He has previously admitted it would be hard to turn down either United or Barcelona, who have also been linked with a move, and for whom his international teammate Arda Turan plays his club football.
Çalhanoğlu has scored nine goals in 26 games for club and country this season, and featured in both of Leverkusen’s Champions League group stage meetings with Tottenham Hotspur.
The German club have been drawn against Atlético Madrid in the last 16, with the first leg taking place on February 21 at the BayArena.
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