Immobile released by Besiktas ahead of expected Bologna move

Ciro Immobile has been released by Besiktas ahead of his expected return to Serie A with Bologna.

Immobile, who has scored 17 goals in 57 appearances for Italy but was excluded from their Euro 2024 squad, moved to Turkiye last July.

He scored 15 goals in 30 Super Lig appearances as the Istanbul giants finished fourth, having replaced coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in January.

Immobile was reportedly keen to cut his stay in Turkiye short to join Bologna, who finished ninth in Serie A under Vincenzo Italiano last season but won the Coppa Italia.

On Friday, Besiktas confirmed they had reached an agreement to terminate Immobile's contract, which was due to run for a further season.

The 35-year-old has reportedly already agreed terms with Bologna, who will play in the Europa League next season. They participated in the Champions League in 2024-25 but exited in the league phase.

Immobile's most recent spell in Italy, with Lazio between 2016 and 2024, was hugely successful as he plundered 169 goals in 270 Serie A appearances.

That was at least 66 goals more than any other player scored in the competition in that time, with Inter's Lautaro Martinez second with 103.

Immobile averaged a goal every 126.2 minutes with Lazio in Serie A, with his most prolific campaign coming in 2019-20, when he netted 36 times in 37 league outings.

Immobile, a Euro 2020 winner with his country, has also had spells with Juventus, Pescara, Genoa, Torino, Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla.