Some transfer targets get them into the public domain very early; others happen very quickly after the initial speculation and
that’s been the case with our latest recruit Zeki Amdouni who has completed a move to Burnley and signed a five-year deal.
The 22-year-old has played his entire career to date in his native Switzerland, starting with Étoile Carouge, a club we faced in
pre-season back in 2015, a game we won 2-1 with goals from Lukas Jutkiewicz and George Boyd.
He was there from 2017 for two years before moving to Stade Lausanne Ouchy, a club who have this year won promotion to
the Swiss Super League. He spent two years there too before playing the 2021/22 season with Lausanne-Sport, another club
familiar to Burnley, our second opponents in the Fairs Cup in 1966/67.
In June last year, he was on the move again, signing for FC Basel on a two-year loan with them having an option to buy. He
made his debut for them against Winterthur and soon scored his first goal in a 4-2 win against FC Zürich.
He’s definitely got an eye for goal and has scored 52 in those four seasons having played a total of 160 games and his
goalscoring record in his fledgling international career is very impressive.
He played for Switzerland at under-20 level and then for both Switzerland and Turkey at under-21 level; his father is Turkish
and he was also available to play for Tunisia, his mother’s birthplace.
It’s Switzerland he’s played for at full international level. His debut came against Czechia in September last year. That was as
a substitute but in 2023, he’s played four more times for Switzerland against Belarus, Israel, Andorra and Romania, scoring
in all four games with two in the most recent game against Romania.
Amdouni said: “I’m very happy to be here and I’m excited to start. The last two months were very important to me; I spoke
to the coach, and he really wanted me. Also, I really wanted to work with him, for me that’s the most important. For my
career, to choose a good club, where the coach wants you is important to me. I know the Premier League is best league in the
world. It’s not easy for sure but I am confident with the coach, and the staff, I can do good things here.”
Manager Vincent Kompany added: “Zeki is such a goal threat. The way he can play the final pass creates so many assists and
thanks to the amount of work he puts in on the pitch, he scores plenty himself. He’s a very intelligent footballer, technically
gifted and with a great work ethic. He works really hard. We’re looking forward to working with him. He’s a big talent.”
Zeki Amdouni has now become the latest player to join the newly promoted Clarets and we wish him the very best during his
time at Turf Moor.
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