Trabzonspor reject €11m Saudi bid for Paul Onuachu

Trabzonspor have rejected an €11m offer from a Saudi Arabian club for Super Eagles striker Paul Onuachu, turning down the second Gulf-side bid for the Nigerian this calendar year as the Turkish club hold out for a fee more reflective of what they believe their top scorer is worth, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The offer, reported by Turkish outlet Takagazete, falls short of Trabzonspor’s valuation for the 32-year-old, who delivered one of the standout individual seasons in the Turkish Süper Lig in 2025/26.

Saudi side Al-Ahli had a separate approach rejected during the January transfer window, and the unnamed club’s latest bid has met the same fate.

Onuachu’s case for a higher valuation is difficult to argue against, given the body of work he produced last season. He finished as joint-top scorer in the Süper Lig with 22 goals, sharing the honour with Uzbekistan international Eldor Shomurodov, and became only the sixth player in Trabzonspor’s history to achieve the feat.

He won the Süper Lig Goal of the Season award for a stunning overhead kick against Fatih Karagumruk, and then delivered the defining performance of the Turkish Cup campaign, scoring both goals in a 2-1 victory over Konyaspor in the final in May.

Trabzonspor president Ertuğrul Doğan confirmed this week that the club have received bids for seven players in the current window and expect to sell one or two of them, with Onuachu among those whose future is being weighed against the right price.

The most telling signal around Onuachu’s future, however, comes from head coach Fatih Tekke. The Trabzonspor boss is said to be open to the Nigerian’s departure and is actively seeking a more mobile striker — a forward capable of pressing from the front and contributing to the team’s defensive work in and out of possession.

It is a pointed description of what the 201-centimetre Onuachu is not. The Nigerian is built for aerial dominance, clever movement inside the penalty area and clinical finishing. He is not the archetypal high-press forward. Those qualities produced 22 Süper Lig goals and a cup winner’s medal in 2025/26, but Tekke’s preference suggests that if Trabzonspor identify their target striker, Onuachu’s exit becomes increasingly likely regardless of whether the Saudi bids reach the required threshold.