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Eric Ayuk’s tenure at the Philadelphia Union has officially come to an end with the 21-year-old winger headed to the Turkish second division to join Osmanlispor FK, the club announced on Tuesday.
Terms of the deal and whether the Union received a transfer deal were not announced.
“We’d like to thank Eric for his hard work here in Philadelphia and wish him well at his new club,” Union Technical Director Chris Albright said in a statement. “We believe this is the best move for both Eric’s future and for the Union at this time.”
Ayuk has been buried in the depth chart since returning from a loan to Swedish first division club Jönköpings Södra IF, making just four appearances with Bethlehem Steel FC this season mostly as a right back.
His last first team appearance was in October 2016. He’ll finish his career with 29 total appearances and a pair of goals while also scoring a couple goals in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. He most recently appeared for Cameroon’s U20 team at the 2017 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations.
He also had four goals in 21 appearances for the Steel and a goal in one appearance on loan with the Harrisburg City Islanders in 2015. He had a goal in 12 appearances in Sweden.
The Cameroon native was negotiating a deal to go to the Turkish top flight club Trabzonspor a few weeks ago, but the deal was never finalized.
His transfer will clear a first-team international spot, giving the Union three open international spots between the first team and Bethlehem Steel.
UPDATE:
The Union did not get a transfer fee for Eric Ayuk, but did get an agreement for a percentage of future sales. Ayuk’s Union contract was to be up in four months.
— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) August 28, 2018