Turkish Galatasaray is interested in Russian football player Kislyak

Turkish football club Galatasaray is considering the possibility of acquiring 21-year-old CSKA Moscow midfielder Matvey Kislyak. This was reported by the Yeni Şafak newspaper on Wednesday, October 21.

According to journalists, the Istanbul team intends to strengthen the squad with a Russian player in the winter transfer window in January 2027. Representatives of Galatasaray have been in contact with Kislyak's agent for some time to gather information about a potential transfer. At the same time, there has been no official proposal to CSKA at the moment.

The market value of the football player is estimated by the Turkish press at about € 25 million. Interest in the Russian is associated with the likely departure from the team of midfielder Leslie Ugochukwu, leased from English Burnley. According to the Yeni Mesaj newspaper, in this case, Kislyak can take the vacant place in the middle of the field.

In the last 2025/26 season, Matvey Kislyak demonstrated high performance as a member of the army club. The midfielder played 29 matches for CSKA in all competitions, in which he scored five goals and five assists.

An important factor in the negotiations is Kislyak's friendship with another Russian midfielder, Alexei Batrakov, who joined Galatasaray from Lokomotiv Moscow in the summer of 2026. The players have maintained a close relationship since their time together in the Russian national team, where they were roommates. Kislyak himself had previously confirmed that he had talked with Batrakov about adapting to Turkey, but stressed that he was satisfied with his position at CSKA and did not seek to leave the country at any cost.

Matvey Kislyak's current contract with the Moscow club runs until the summer of 2029. At the same time, in the summer of 2026, another Turkish club, Besiktas, was also interested in the player, but then CSKA refused to let their pupil go.

Alexey Batrakov has already become one of the leaders of the new team after moving to Istanbul. The Russian opened the scoring in the 28th minute of the Champions League match against Barcelona, scoring his debut goal for Galatasaray.