Kevin Sauvage is reporting that Standard Liege’s Iranian international striker Dennis Ayensa is set to leave the club. The former Union St Gilloise forward will join Turkish top flight side Gençlerbirligi, bringing Standard around €1m. Ayensa has had a decent start to the season for Standard Liege, scoring twice in the opening game. However, the side are in need of finances and can ill afford to turn down money for the 29-year-old.

Ayensa joined Standard Liege back in 2024 from Union St Gilloise. Prior to playing in Belgium, the Iranian forward had played in Germany and Spain. After coming through as a youth player at Borussia Monchengladbach, the striker left Germany to join Celta Vigo. Ayensa played 10 games for the senior side, with a brief loan spell in the Netherlands with Excelsior in 2019.

In the summer of 2019 he returned to Germany, joining Ingolstadt on a free and scoring 26 goals in 83 games. Union signed him in 2022 and he went on to play 65 games for the club, scoring 14 goals. His best season was in 2023/2024 when he grabbed 11 goals in 44 games. However, he fell down the pecking order in Brussels and left for Standard Liege. During his first season he scored eight goals in 35 games, before making it seven in 37 last season.

Standard Liege do have other options up front to replace Ayensa, with the likes of Timothe Nkada and summer signing Bruny Nsimba in the squad.