Montella returns to Türkiye: he will lead the national team

Today in Istanbul with his staff for the signing. Three-year contract for European and World Championships

Selcuk Manav

– ISTANBUL

We’re down to the details. Today Vincenzo Montella will fly to Istanbul with his staff to sign the agreement that will bind him to the Turkish Federation for the next three years. Another Italian coach therefore finds a bench as coach of a national team. And the Turkish one has prestige, history, charm because in Turkey football is experienced with enormous passion and because the richest and most important clubs have been growing in terms of quality for years, thanks to investments in high-level players and coaches.

appreciated

Like Montella, on the other hand, who spent the last two seasons in Turkey at Adana, obtaining surprising results with a newly promising team taken from the relegation zone and brought this year to fourth place and the historic first qualification in the Conference. Vincenzo in Turkey was appreciated for the work done in depth, the seriousness, the valorization of the players, the game and obviously the results. But also on a human level. In the tragic moment last year when a large part of the country, including the city of Adana, was devastated by the earthquake, he launched solidarity initiatives and tried to exploit his notoriety in every way to raise the necessary funds to build prefabricated houses for those who had lost accommodation. Gestures that did not go unnoticed and which increased the consideration towards the technician who had immersed himself totally in the professional and human experience in Turkey. This is why after leaving Adana, at the end of an intense two-year period sportingly and emotionally, he was sought first by Fenerbahce and now by the national team, who convinced him with a three-year project which in the Federation’s objectives includes first qualifying for the European Championships and then the one at the next World Cup. There is time and trust to open a cycle, results permitting.

the ladder

The Italian coach will bring with him his three collaborators (deputy, trainer and match analyst) who have had the experience at Adana and already know the Turkish reality. Today should be the day of signatures barring currently unforeseeable surprises. Then there will be time for presentations and to prepare the next commitments. Turkey is currently first in the qualifying group together with Croatia with 10 points (but with one game more). Behind the two favourites, Armenia and Wales follow on 7 points. On October 12th the first match in Croatia, then Latvia and the last match in November in Wales. A direct qualification is probable but as for Italy, the Nations League also offers the Turks a parachute for the Euro: having won group 1 of Serie C they still have the right to the playoff (for 1 place) with Greece, Kazakhstan and Georgia. Montella has always been the first choice of federal president Mehmet Büyükekşi who had fired the German coach Stefan Kuntz in office since September 2021. Today the white smoke. Then straight to work. Montella already knows the strengths and weaknesses of Turkish footballers who play in their homeland and in the major foreign leagues. The adventure is about to begin.



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