After retiring from football, Emre Belözoğlu made statements about many topics, from his role as sports director at Fenerbahçe to his career goals.
Emre Belözoğlu emphasized that he worked with two strong presidents at Fenerbahçe, Aziz Yıldırım and Ali Koç, and said:
“I have no resentment towards anyone. Life is not that long. After all, professional decisions are made. We have experiences and memories with Mr. Aziz Yıldırım and Mr. Ali Koç. There have been places where we disagreed, but when we see each other, we hug both Ali President and Aziz President. , we sit and talk. We text during holidays and religious holidays, we talk about our sorrows and our good days. There are great sorrows for me, but these are sorrows that have never had a place in my career with Fenerbahçe. In my relationships, which we have individualized a little more, there are people who make me very sad and disappointed. Life sometimes “He underlines people and sometimes crosses them out. Fenerbahçe, Aziz Yıldırım, Ali Koç are among those that are underlined for me, but there are also many people that I underline. The ones that I underline will no longer be in my life.”
SPORTS DIRECTORATE PERIOD
Emre Belözoğlu also evaluated his period as a sports director in Fenerbahçe and the transfers made during that period and said, “The sports director institution was not a place I wanted. I wanted to work as a coach. I also conveyed this to our president, but at the request of our president, I continued with the process and the promise I made to him. Fenerbahçe’s transfer limits were closed at that time. I saw firsthand how much the president struggled to visit the banks one by one and get the permissions. While the transfer was being made, they described everyone as magicians, and when they declared us as such, we did not accept it. Because we are not magicians who will disappear. We also take all kinds of responsibilities.” he said.
The young coach said that they made very important transfers to Fenerbahçe with limited resources at that time and continued his words as follows:
“We had no income other than the 16-17 million euros earned through the transfer of Vedat Muric. Today, Fenerbahçe is a team worth 100 million euros. As of that day, we established a team worth 16-20 million euros. 16 players left, 16 players came. Despite those conditions Fenerbahçe lost the championship in the last week. According to whom he is a good sports director, according to whom he is bad. According to whom he is a good coach, according to whom he is not. These comments do not seem very sincere to me anymore. I tried to do it by giving the maximum until the very end. Emre cannot be evaluated based on every mistake, every mistake is made. “Even after a successful work, it cannot be evaluated as ‘Emre did the right thing’. You cannot attribute good works to one person and bad works to another. During that period, there were Ali Koç, Emre Belözoğlu and Erol Bulut, everyone did their best.”
Reminding that they missed the championship with that squad with a Sivasspor match, Belözoğlu said, “Then we left. It was a very important experience. The year I quit football, the president deemed me worthy of this position. It was also enjoyable to work with Erol coach. He also wanted to be successful. Erol coach was responsible for our having a chance at the championship in the last week.” “He also had a share. I don’t speak as freely as they do, I give everyone their due.” he said.
“MESUT OZIL TRANSFER WAS NOT WRONG”
Emre Belözoğlu also stated the following about star football player Mesut Özil, who joined the team during his period as sports director:
“I will make the maximum contribution with the financial power I have. Nobody believed that Mesut Özil would come, but after meeting with Mr. President and me, he came with his family. He still lives in Turkey. That day, when Mesut arrived, everyone came to meet him at the airport. They also said that Mesut was unsuccessful. “No one can say. He did his best. In the big picture, the transfer of Mesut Özil was not wrong considering the conditions of that day.”
“ARDA GÜLER IS A VERY SPECIAL PLAYER”
Belözoğlu praised Arda Güler, who currently plays for Real Madrid, and said, “Arda Güler is a very special player. We used to enjoy watching Iniesta, Zidane and Xavi. Now we have such a gem, but he has to play. Unfortunate.” “He has overcome the injury process and hopefully he will get the jersey now. We are looking forward to it.” said.
Emphasizing that Ömer Faruk Beyaz is also very talented, Belözoğlu said the following when reminded that Arda Güler made the first professional signing during his time:
“Ömer Faruk still has a chance to reach the advanced level. There are people who contributed to the process of Arda Güler joining Fenerbahçe from Gençlerbirliği. There are managers like us who contributed to that period. Just because Emre Belözoğlu was sitting next to him while his professional contract was being made, Arda Güler’s” Emre Belözoğlu is not the one who did it. No one should give credence to the words of the Turkish football public, ‘I made him play first, I made him play first.’ “Those who do this are trying to impress the fans by playing to the stands. We don’t do such things either.”
Emre Belözoğlu, who played for Inter, Newcastle United and Atletico Madrid in Europe in his football career, also emphasized that he was very happy in his career as a coach at MKE Ankaragücü and concluded his words as follows:
“My primary goal is to be a coach playing in European cups with MKE Ankaragücü. I don’t know how close or far this is. We will see whether we can do it or not. I will do everything I can. Then, of course, I want to be a coach in the big leagues in Europe, but in Europe “I would be very happy if one day I could be the coach of the teams I worked for. I would like to give this experience to those who love me.”