Arsenal and Man City warned off as manager says ‘I don’t want to sell’ £22m wonderkid

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With Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Arsenal among those sniffing around, the January transfer window is certainly not something the striker’s head coach is looking forward to.

The agent of one of European football’s hottest attacking prospects has already confirmed that Arsenal and Manchester City like the Besiktas wonderkid.

Semih Kilicsoy, HITC reported recently, has also earned a spot on Nottingham Forest’s radar alongside Galatasaray forward and fellow Turkey international Baris Alper Yilmaz.

And then there is Aston Villa, too.

While the legitimacy of Villa’s interest is a little less certain at this stage, former Besiktas chief Sinan Engin does claim to have been informed that Unai Emery’s Bayern Munich-bashers submitted a £12.6 million bid in the window just gone.

But, as far as Besiktas coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst is concerned, the message to Kilicsoy’s growing throng of suitors is a simple one; stay away.

Besiktas coach warns Arsenal and Manchester City off Semih Kilicsoy

“I don’t want to sell Semih Kilicsoy!” Van Bronckhorst tells the media. “Good offers may come during the winter break, but I don’t want to sell him.

“Things are going well at the moment, and big teams want to sign these players. One day, the best time for the club and the player will come and he can be sold.

“[But] I hope he will serve us for many years.”

Kilicsoy is reportedly valued at around £22 million.

The teenager scored 11 goals in 20 Super Lig starts during his breakout campaign in 2023/24. Form has been a little harder to come by this term, however, with Kilicsoy still awaiting lift off 11 appearances into the current campaign.

And Van Bronckhorst is keen to put his teen sensation back on the goal trail again.

“I have a good relationship with Semih Kilicsoy,” the former Arsenal, Barcelona and Netherlands defender adds. “He is a rising star and a very talented player. He did very well last year with his goals.

“I want to bring every player to a good level. Semih will become a better player. He will become a better player this year. I am trying to develop him.

“Semih knows the details about this. He will be a very good player for Besiktas.”

Man City target models his game on Etihad icon Sergio Aguero

In addition to Arsenal and Manchester City – who’s legendary striker Sergio Aguero is a player Kilicsoy models himself on – the Turkish teen’s agent confirmed that Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart are all sniffing around.

“If an offer has come to Besiktas, I don’t know that,” Murat Teber said towards the end of last season via Sporx. “I know that clubs such as Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart are watching Semih.

“We received information about this. But it has not reached the offer stage.”

Kilicsoy, it seems, is likely to stay in Turkey until next summer at the earliest.

Former Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray playmaker Arda Turan, however, believes it is only a matter of time before Kilicsoy is following in the footsteps of Aguero and fellow rising star Arda Guler, the latter now at Real Madrid.

“I feel proud as I watch Semih Kilicsoy,” Turan told TRT Spor a few months back. “He, too, will reach very good places like Arda Guler.

“He will first make a great contribution to Besiktas and then become a world star.”