turkish soccer player Burn Turan, ex of the Barcelona and of the Athletic Madrid, announced this Monday his retirement from professional football, in a video published on social networks and that reviews his career.
Turan, born in Istanbul 35 years ago, grew up in the sports academy of the Galatasaraythe same club with which he has ended his career after passing through the Turkish Manisaspor, Atlético, Barça and Basaksehir, also from Istanbul.
Galatasaray influence
In his video he highlights the influence of Galatasaray and especially that of the already legendary coach Fatih Terim about his career, but also reviews his Spanish time.
“I wanted to go abroad to earn money. Atlético signed me despite being injured and unable to play. They were very good years. In the first season with Atlético we won the UEFA Cup,” recalls the player in the video.
He says that when he began to live in Madrid he received “lots of advice”like that of some who suggested he lead a life “like a star”.
“That didn’t bother me at all. I opened doors and opened my mind”, reflect.
Triumphs and defeats at Atlético
“With Atlético I lived everything. I think we won one of the most difficult championships in the history of football. We competed with the best clubs in the world in what is perhaps the toughest competition in the world and we were champions,” he adds.
But not all were triumphs. “In my life I have lost two finals”, the final match of the 2014 Champions League and before the final exam of high school. They both made me very sad and I cried a lot,” he confessed.
Regarding Barcelona, he says that it is an “excellent club, with an unrivaled culture”, citing especially “Andrés (Iniesta), Messi and Gerard Pique”, and is sure that it would be difficult for him to reject an offer from that team.
“I had a great time at Barcelona. I scored goals, we won the Cup. We played alongside the greatest leaders of all time,” he sums up.
“I’m sure about one thing: Luis Enrique, together with Fatih Terim and Diego Simeone, has changed my vision of football. He became someone I love so much for opening me up to totally different ideas both playing and thinking about the game,” recalls Turan.
He then tries to explain his decision to return to Turkey, where he played for a year and a half for Basaksehir, a successful Istanbul club but with few fans in the city.
“Leaving Barcelona of your own free will may be a marginal idea for a footballer, but I couldn’t play, and I couldn’t accept that,” he says.
beyond football
“Life stopped being just football: I got married and had two children”concludes the player, quickly going over his last four years of career, in which he returned to Galatasaray and ended up appearing in the press more for a confrontation in a nightclub, pistol shot included, than for his goals.
Turan’s farewell video ends with the footballer taking his training shoes to the garden of his house, where he hands them to his children before concluding: “The game continues.”
