Nuri Şahin bids farewell to Antalyaspor: I have made a decision I could never have imagined

Antalyaspor President Sinan Boztepe and head coach Nuri Şahin held a press conference at the Atilla Vehbi Konuk Facilities.

Nuri Şahin stated in his speech that the last 2-3 days had been intense, and thanked club president Sinan Boztepe and the Antalyaspor community for their understanding.

Noting that Antalyaspor is very valuable to him, Şahin said, "I have made a decision I could never have imagined or thought of. We put the offer from Borussia Dortmund, which came 2-3 days ago, on the table. I spoke with my president. And I told him that I wanted to accept this offer. Thankfully, despite all our planning, he gave me the green light and said, 'chase your dream, we are proud.' I want to thank our president in front of the entire public."

"I no longer need to say how important Antalyaspor is to me or what it means," said Şahin, continuing his words as follows:

"I tried to reflect this both on and off the pitch; in good times and bad, I always tried to reflect it. I tried to protect our club's values, I tried to protect our club, I tried to protect our city. I hope everyone has seen this. I have no doubt about that anyway. I am leaving my players at Antalyaspor, my very valuable brothers, my very valuable companions here. I am sure they will be very successful. I am sure they will be much more successful after me. Because they are all very high-character, very great, and good players. There is no need to be sad at all. I told our president that I will always be by their side and support them in all planning. Antalyaspor is in a very good situation. I am sure it will reach much, much better places, hopefully."

"THE TIMING IS NOT IDEAL"

When asked whether it was right to leave the team in the middle of the season, Şahin stated that he was not leaving at an ideal time.

Expressing that the dynamics and timing of football are very different, Şahin said, "While making our plans, we always made plans focused entirely on here. In recent months, very serious offers came from very different places. I did not accept any of them. Believe me, I would only consider leaving Antalyaspor for one club; that is Borussia Dortmund. It is not my fault that this offer came at this time. It is the success of my players and my club. I thought a lot only because it was Borussia Dortmund. Even though it was Dortmund, I thought a lot. But I am at peace because I am leaving both by bringing a transfer fee to my club and by realizing my dream. As I said, the timing is not ideal, I cannot deny that."

SEARCH FOR A HEAD COACH OF NURİ ŞAHİN'S QUALITY

Antalyaspor Club President Boztepe stated that Nuri Şahin's transfer to Borussia Dortmund developed very quickly, and said that they are proud as a club because of this transfer.

Expressing that Nuri Şahin is going to one of the 10 biggest clubs in the world as a coach, Boztepe said, "We congratulate our coach. We were all surprised by this situation. It developed very quickly. While making our future plans, we switched to a different planning."

Boztepe emphasized that there is absolutely no discomfort or unrest in the club due to Nuri Şahin's departure.

Stating that there is no financial situation involved in Şahin's departure and that it is entirely career and success-oriented, Boztepe said, "As the Antalyaspor family, we support our coach 100 percent."

Boztepe stated that they are currently in talks with 3-4 domestic and foreign head coaches, adding, "We are working as a team to make a decision regarding a coach who can be the best for Antalyaspor, who can achieve the most success, and who can fill the place of our coach Nuri. It will be clarified within the coming week."

Following the speeches, Boztepe presented a plaque to Şahin.