Turkish defender Ersan Gulum (R) competes for the ball against Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. (Photo : Getty Images)
Newly-promoted Chinese Super League team Hebei China Fortune FC had recently acquired Turkish defender Ersan Gulum from Süper Lig club Beşiktaş JK for a transfer fee €7 million.
The 28-year-old center back is set to join Ivorian forward Gervinho, Cameroonian defensive midfielder Stéphane Mbia, and French winger Gaël Kakuta as the latest international signings of the Samba Kings during this winter transfer window.
Kakuta, who was signed on Saturday, was the latest to join the club, as per Four Four Two.
In total, Hebei now has five non-Chinese players suiting up for Li Tie's squad. Brazilian Eduardo Gonçalves de Oliveira, or Edu, who was signed in July of last year, is the fifth one.
Turkish Football indicated that the negotiations for the deal was announced in the local stock exchange as "Turkish clubs listed on the stock exchange are obliged to disclose information of talks before announcing the official transfer".
However, a statement from the club to confirm negotiations is already official even prior to the disclosure of transfer details.
The report noted that Gulum will not be counted as a non-Asian player because the center back is also an Australian citizen aside from being a Turkish national, which means that the team does not need to sell one of their foreign players in order to sign him.
The CSL has a rule that of the five non-Chinese players signed by a squad, one of them should be from the AFC. Moreover, of the five foreigners, only four at a time can appear in the field during games.
Gulum, who was born in Carlton, Melbourne, played for Australia's under-23 team before deciding to represent his parents' home country of Turkey during his senior career. The move is legal according to FIFA rules.
Current Chelsea interim head coach Guus Hiddink, who was the manager of the Turkey national football team in 2010-2011, snagged Gulum from Australia. Gulum did not play in his first game with Hiddink against the Netherlands, though.
The 6-foot-1 defender had been with Beşiktaş since the 2010-2011 season. In six years of playing for the Turkish squad, he had suited up in 126 games in all competitions and had scored three times.
Besiktas has also sold Senegalese striker Demba Ba to another CSL club, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua FC, at an undisclosed amount in last summer's transfer window.
