In January 2025, 21-year old Aston Villa striker Jhon Durán signed a lucrative deal with Saudi Pro League club, Al-Nassr. It was hailed as a coup at the time, as the Saudi club had attracted one of the top young talents in European football.
Now, just six months later, Durán has finalised a transfer to Turkey's Fenerbahçe SK, a move that has raised some eyebrows in the footballing world.
With no disrespect to Fenerbahçe SK, you might be forgiven for thinking that Durán could have set his sights higher than the Turkish Süper Lig's 2024/25 runners-up. Prior to his move from the UK, he was in fine goal-scoring form, including notching a memorable winning goal in Aston Villa's famous victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League. He'd also been linked to a move to some of the top clubs in European football, including Chelsea, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Even after his January move, he registered a healthy eight goals in thirteen matches in the Saudi Pro League.
So why take his talents to Turkey? The answer may lie not in his current role or his aspirations but in the timing of his departure from his former club, Aston Villa. Having moved in January 2025 (and almost certainly having already spent sufficient days in the UK in the 2024/2025 tax year to be 'UK resident' under the provisions of the UK's Statutory Residence Test), it's likely that Durán would have been subject to 'split-year tax treatment' in order to prematurely end his UK tax residence when he moved to Saudi Arabia. However, the 'split-year tax treatment' rules require the individual to remain non-UK resident in the tax year following the 'split' year.
If that were the case for Durán, and he were to return to the UK this summer, he would risk invalidating his 'split' of the 2024/2025 tax year and, ultimately, this could mean him being subject to UK income tax on some of his Saudi salary from his time with Al-Nassr. Given the scale of his reported wages with Al-Nassr, that would be a potentially very expensive penalty. It is a similar issue that may have been faced by other players like Jordan Henderson and Wilfried Zaha when contemplating their moves from Saudi Arabia in recent years.
There could, of course, be purely sporting reasons behind the move. There are few clubs in the world that would be able to fit Durán's reported wages within their wage structure. There are a number of quality strikers reportedly available this summer. And, indeed, it was only six months ago that an Aston Villa side desperate to return to the Champions League deemed Durán to be expendable.
But it could also be yet another example of the potentially significant impact UK taxation can have on the careers of elite sports people.
If you have questions or concerns related to tax residence or international mobility, please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our market-leading Private Client team.
