Lille have signed Basar Önal from NEC Nijmegen in a deal worth a fixed €12.5m, with add-ons that could push the total to around €14.5m. The 22-year-old has put pen to paper on a four-year contract running to the summer of 2030, and the fee is a club-record sale for NEC, who picked him up from De Graafschap for just €1m back in 2024.
Önal is a left-sided attacker who can play as a winger or further back as a wing-back, and it's his end product that persuaded Lille to move. In the 2025-26 Eredivisie season he scored seven goals and set up eight more in 30 league appearances, contributing nine goals and nine assists in all competitions as NEC finished third — their best-ever league position. Lille, who also finished third last season and qualified for the Champions League, wanted a young, direct, two-footed threat down the left who can create chances as well as score them, and Önal's numbers over the past two seasons stood out across the Dutch top flight.
For NEC, this is a familiar story: develop a player, sell for a huge multiple, reinvest. Önal made 70-plus appearances in two seasons at the club, and technical director Carlos Aalbers said the club took pride in seeing another player make the step up to a major European league, calling it a fitting continuation of his development. Losing a player of his output from the left flank is a real blow to a side that built their best-ever campaign partly around his goals and assists, and NEC will now have to find a replacement to fill that creative gap.
Önal isn't the first NEC player to head to Lille. Left-back Calvin Verdonk made the same move in September 2025 for around €3m, and the pair will now be teammates again in northern France. Önal becomes the second Turkish player in Lille's current squad alongside goalkeeper Berke Ozer, and a Turkey Under-21 international with the profile to push for senior recognition if his form continues.
At Lille, Önal arrives as the club go through a change at the top: Davide Ancelotti has taken over as head coach for the new season after Bruno Genesio departed following last season's third-place finish. Given his physical attributes, pace and left-footed quality, Önal looks suited to either a wing-back role in a back-three system or as an out-and-out left winger in a front line, giving Ancelotti a genuine goal-and-assist option down that side as Lille prepare for a Champions League campaign.
The move is a significant statement of intent from Lille, who are backing a young, in-form attacker rather than an established name, and a huge financial boost for NEC as they look to reinvest and build on their record Eredivisie finish.