He is the most talked about player in the Eredivisie: Burak Yilmaz. In the Netherlands for three months now. Until now, most of the writing has been about him, but he has hardly said anything to the media. In an exclusive interview, he discusses the departure of Sjors Ultee, explains why Lille was exchanged for Sittard and deals with lies. “Embarrassing untruths have been written about me. After this I will not speak to anyone about this and I will continue to concentrate on football.”
It is June 21 when it becomes clear that one of the biggest transfer stunts in the history of the Eredivisie is really going to take place. Superstar Burak Yilmaz is coming to Sittard. Fortuna has managed to capture the 77-time international of Turkey. What follows are weeks of speculation. Is he still fit? What is he actually doing in Sittard? On August 6, Fortuna Sittard will play its first match of the season against national champions Ajax. In the 66th minute Yilmaz comes in and less than twenty minutes later he puts an end to some of the speculation. With a beautiful kick he shoots a free kick of about 25 meters against the ropes. Most people are over it anyway: The Eredivisie is one attraction richer. The attraction turns out to be a roller coaster with many loops, hairpin bends and unexpected moments. Two months after the arrival of the Yilmaz attraction, trainer Sjors Ultee is on the street. Yilmaz, along with the rest of the Turkish enclave near Fortuna, would have complete power over the club. Chairman Isitan Gün and associates do not want to work with a willful trainer, but with a coach who listens to Yilmaz. “I’ve never made a constellation. The fact that people are suggesting this is very embarrassing.”
From Turkish metropolis to Limburg tranquility
Burak Yilmaz, born in Antalya, but living most of his life in Istanbul. A city with over 15 million inhabitants. By way of comparison: less than 38 thousand people live in Sittard. Yet Yilmaz, despite the fact that he does not yet have a house of his own, is in his place in Limburg after three months. “Everything is going well and I’m used to it here. The people here are very warm. They try to help me where possible. We just haven’t found a house yet. I have been staying in a hotel with my family since my arrival. Our children are going now also going to school here. Everything is going smoothly, and I have few adjustment problems. We are happy.”
He also gets to know the Eredivisie better and better. He has already played seven games in the Eredivisie. Yilmaz scored four goals and an assist. “The Dutch league is a strong competition. Everyone tries to play football here, that is something valuable. There is no team with a negative view to just defend or play for a point. Teams try to play football, that is something beautiful. I chose the Netherlands to learn a lot. For me, the Netherlands is a football institution, just like Brazil. I have the ambition to become a trainer and from that perspective I came to the Netherlands. I am here to learn. I am here to to learn something from the Dutch ideology. Now that I play here, my position is confirmed. Everyone tries to play football here, whether you are good or bad at it. So I think I made a very good decision to come here come.”
Although Yilmaz is satisfied with his choice, Fortuna Sittard itself is not doing too well. After seven games, only four points have been scored and the club is in sixteenth place. “It has gone badly in terms of results. We have played seven games, two of which I couldn’t start. I myself have played five games, I have scored four goals. But if you ask me whether scoring goals is more important or winning, it is of course winning. For example, the last game in which I missed a lot of opportunities, but my teammate scored and we took three points. I want every game to go like this.”
Farewell to Sjors Ultee
Fortuna’s bad start eventually costs Sjors Ultee his job. The trainer who guided Fortuna, together with Kevin Hofland, to the Eredivisie five seasons ago, is being kicked out. That is not due to his relationship with Yilmaz, according to the striker himself. “I never had the idea that there were any problems between us. Of course I don’t know what he or those around him say about that, but I have not had a bad experience with him. If I could see him walking now, I would give him a hug. ” The striker continues: “It is a decision that has been made entirely by the club board. After all, I am just an employee here. Above me are the chairman and technical director and you also have the owner, those are the people who are in charge of this. is a decision that has nothing to do with me and that happens in football. But we conceded ten goals in three matches, lost all three, that will certainly have played a part in the decision. Sjors is a talented and young trainer and he has ambitions. Today it didn’t work out in Sittard, tomorrow there will probably be a new challenge on his path and I wish him a lot of success with that.”
“Embarrassing Falsehoods”
The reason Yilmaz says that Ultee’s firing isn’t his fault is because it’s quickly rumored that Yilmaz has something to do with it. Not the trainer, but Yilmaz would determine the line-up. He would also pay profit premiums. That is absolutely not true, says Yilmaz. “I have never made a lineup. The fact that people are suggesting this is very embarrassing. In any case, it is very disrespectful to the coaching staff. I was very disappointed with these messages. I would decide everything here, they even talked about competition premiums, very embarrassing.” A persistent rumor is that Yilmaz had promised 1000 euros in profit per player for the match against Heerenveen. Out of your own pocket. “Out of my own pocket? This is so embarrassing, also towards the chairman, towards the technical director. I wish there weren’t stories like this and I can say with certainty that both stories were made up out of thin air. these messages, but I can’t possibly answer everything “This is not true, that is not true” I can’t keep saying This is all a lie I am only a player of Fortuna Sittard A message is true. In the team bus after the game against Heerenveen I had a discussion with a member of the coaching staff, but before people get or already have crazy ideas about this… like that we would have called each other names or even crazier… The only thing that what happened was a little bit of a raise. He to me, me to him. But this happens in football. The biggest problem with this discussion is that it ended up outside the players’ bus, in the media. I understand the journalists who have this brought, because it is news and their work. But I’m disappointed that it ended up in the media and didn’t stay on the bus, because we are a team. The discussion that has taken place has long since been forgotten and forgiven, we work well together here every day. But tomorrow there could just be another discussion, that’s football. But messages like ‘Burak makes the lineup, or Burak hands out bounties’ are very embarrassing.”
Future in the Netherlands
So Ultee leaves and Fortuna is left without a trainer. Dominik Vergoossen temporarily took over the honours. Yilmaz, who has trainer ambitions, steps forward and discusses various matters with players and Vergoossen. However, his trainer ambitions have not yet been fully fueled. “Everywhere I was a player, trainers asked for my opinion. The current trainer does this again and I also ask about his ideas. Some trainers also ask young inexperienced players about their idea. You have to see it this way, I don’t know yet good whether I want to become a trainer I haven’t made a decision yet. Of course we have had three weeks without a trainer. During that period we had consultations, of course, but I have not made any decision. I think that is disrespectful. Whether I want a trainer be? I really don’t know at this point.”
Yilmaz, when he actually becomes a trainer, becomes a passionate and emotional trainer. So is he as a player. That is apparent in the lost game against Heerenveen (2-1). When Burak left a frustrated impression on a Frisian ball boy. ”In Heerenveen I took the ball a bit harshly from a ball boy, it’s the last minute, we are 2-1 behind, we have to score, the ball boy looks at me with a wide smile on his face and holds the ball. Actually, he should have thrown the ball to me. He didn’t and then people are going to criticize me? Then they say that Burak treated the ball boy disrespectfully, but his function there is to throw the ball at me. But he doesn’t throw it and laughs in my face, it’s the last minute and we have to score. With that anger and stress I take that ball a bit firmly and I am the perpetrator. I can’t judge very well whether it was disrespectful to that boy, but shouldn’t it also be about that boy a bit? But even that criticism of me I respect, a player of my caliber should perhaps not do this. I’ve been to France, I’ve been to China and now I’m in the Netherlands. I’ll never change, I’ve never changed. In the field you would always see an aggressive Burak doing everything he can to win, a Burak giving everything. But off the field it’s this Burak, calm, open to all questions.” Spaniard Julio Velázquez now stands in front of the group. Also about his appointment, it is soon written that he comes from Yilmaz. “I had never heard of him in my life. Burak would decide everything here. I had never heard of him, I don’t know anything about him, I met him here for the first time. He is a man who gets up and goes to bed goes with football. His energy radiates on us, I think he is a valuable trainer and I believe that under his leadership we will be successful.”
One of the things that Yilmaz really needs to improve on is the pure feeling of winning. He therefore sees a difference between Turkish culture and Dutch culture. “That is a big difference. Of course this is work. But in the Netherlands they see it more as a game. They enjoy it, they see the beautiful things. After the game it is cozy here in the players’ home without taking into account with the result on the field. That has its pros and cons. In the locker room, as I said, they see it more as a game, maybe even a bit as a hobby. Hobby may be a bit too heavy, but let’s say that winning or losing is not the end of the world. You notice that in the Dutch dressing room. That shows how free and confident people are here. In Turkey it is exactly the other way around. Life is linked to winning or losing matches. If you lose it’s the end of the world, if you win you’re king. There’s a certain stability here and that has a positive effect on the team.”
Watch the entire conversation in Burak Yilmaz Speaks at 7:30 PM on ESPN 2. The replay can be seen after ESPN Today at 11:30 PM on ESPN.
