Turkish Super League Preview: A Hope Story
New season. New teams. New transfers and new expectations. There is approximately a week until the start 2017-2018 football season. Last year’s disappointing teams are hopeful this year. Last year’s successful teams are more willing this year. I believe that we will watch a league where competition is high. Let’s look how the teams have prepared.
Besiktas Are the Same As They Ever Were
The fans who seem to feel the most confident are those of Besiktas. The reason why they feel so is their trust in the manager, Senol Gunes. Think of a manager who puts an end to the longing of winning the title. Before him, football lovers were making fun of Besiktas’s fans because Besiktas was the 3rd team behind Fenerbahce and Galatasaray. According to a joke from that day, it is not necessary for Besiktas to play the matches because at the end of the season, they will be the 3rd team. However, everything changed thanks to Senol Gunes as he’s won two league titles in a row with Besiktas.
Most of the people around the world have heard of the transfer of Pepe to Besiktas. The world famous player made the fans excited. It is surely beyond doubt that he will help the team with his experiences in Champions League.
Despite bringing in Pepe, Besiktas’ friendly matches have shown that they have lost some defensive power too. The centre-back Marcelo was sold to Lyon for €7m. That’s why the fans are looking forward to seeing new centre-back transfer.
Another requirement is a forward. Vincent Aboubakar who scored 19 goals for Besiktas went back to his team Porto. There are lots of names for forward line in the news, but we are still waiting.
New expectations
This season, the most optimistic fans are Fenerbahce’s. Why do I say that? This is because, despite Financial Fair Play, the fans have seen many exciting transfers such as Mathieu Valbuena, Nabil Dirar, Mauricio Isla, Mehmet Ekici and Carlos Kameni. I should not forget to add Aykut Kocaman who is the ex-manager of Fenerbahce. How could they buy so many players? Ekici, Isla, and Kameni were free agents. Dirar was bought for €3.5m and Valbuena for €1.5m. As you can see from the figures, they did not cost too much.
Fenerbahce were suffering from a lack of creative players in attack. Especially last season, only Jeremain Lens made a difference in attack phase with his creativity and technical skills. However, he was only on loan at Fenerbahce. The fans expect him to come back again, but this seems difficult for now because of the high transfer fee.
As for strikers, it is still necessary to buy a one. Robin van Persie is likely to pick up injuries being at his age. Fernandao looks to be overweight and doesn’t take good care of himself, it is difficult to find him fit. 20-year-old Ahmethan Kose doesn’t have enough experience for the Europa League and no one expects him to shoulder the responsibility of striker position alone. That’s why it is vital to buy a striker.
Disappointment for Galatasaray
They are the team of disappointments. They are the team of the rebellion. I am speaking of Galatasaray. Most of the people say that they are Turkey’s gateway to Europe, but the Sweden team Ostersund eliminated them from Europa League. For the first time, Galatasaray were eliminated from Europe in July. However, there is an active transfer period for Galatasaray. I will make a list of the departures and arrivals of them, the decision is yours whether they strengthen the squad or not.
With the contributions of 11 goals and 9 assists, Bruma has moved to RB Leipzig. Podolski who scored 17 goals while making 8 assists left the club and went to Japan. And the world famous Dutchman Wesley Sneijder’s contract was cancelled because manager Igor Tudor didn’t get along well with him. The Dutchman contributed 5 goals and 17 assists last season. As you can notice, Galatasaray lost the attack power.
Despite this loss, they tried to strengthen the squad. Younes Belhanda is the most remarkable transfer for them. The club paid exactly €8m for him and expectations are high because the fans are waiting for him to become new Sneijder. After that €8m, the Brazilian defender Maicon was the next highest transfer fee this season. Bafetimbi Gomis is the new striker. And, Mariano the right-back joined Galatasaray. Do you remember the decision I left you?
Are you ready to fly with Basaksehir?
Now, it’s Basaksehir’s turn. Most people probably didn’t know who Basaksehir were until their match against Club Brugge in the Champions League last week. Last season’s second place finishers have bought remarkable players. Gael Clichy from Manchester City, Eljero Elia from Feyenoord, Mevlut Erdinc from Hannover 96, Tunay Torun from Kasimpasa, Gokhan Inler from Besiktas, Aurelien Chedjou from Galatasaray and Kerim Frei of Besiktas has also joined them.
The most important success of Başakşehir was to make a profit from transfer even though Turkish football clubs rarely can do that. They paid a total of €2.6m for the players I have mentioned above and the 20-year-old player, Cengiz Under, was sold to Roma for €13m. We can not pass the importance of the manager Abdullah Avci in this success. Let’s watch Basaksehir carefully.
We are looking forward to an exciting league. Important players were transferred. Jurac Kucka has joined Trabzonspor from Milan. Jeremy Menez joined Antalyaspor where Samuel Eto’o plays. It’s not only players we should look out for but also important managers. Paul Le Guen the French manager signed for Bursaspor looking for success. Mustafa Resit Akcay took his seat, which was empty from Aykut Kocaman in Konyaspor. The new club of Turkish Super League, Goztepe have a new manager. His name is Tamer Tuna who was the assistant of Senol Gunes. The football fans are waiting for him to play eye-pleasing football as same as Ĺženol Gunes does.