Atila Turan was officially unveiled as Sporting’s latest addition to a much changed squad this Friday morning. Having penned a deal that will keep him at Alvalade for at least the next five seasons, the young Frenchman will wear number 89.

After taking a tour around the Sporting Museum with Mário Casquilho, the 19 year old was officially presented to the awaiting media in the Estádio José Alvalade auditorium. Arriving from Grenoble with the French club struggling financially, the wing-back revealed that Sporting’s offer was simply too good to turn down: “I am in good shape because I have been training over the last few weeks and I have been working hard every day to keep my fitness up. I think that will help me adapt quickly and I am here to work hard and to try and win a place in the team. Sporting has a fantastic history and, although there were other offers on the table, the work that is being done here at Sporting is very exciting and was too attractive to turn down. I didn’t need think twice when Sporting contacted me.”

Responding to a variety of questions, the youngster proved to be well versed in the history of his new club: “Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo have both won the Golden Boot and they both started out here. I know that Domingos Paciência was the coach of Sp. Braga and I really think that he is a great coach with a good philosophy. The Portuguese league is very strong and has a lot of technically gifted players.”

As a player, Turan is obviously keen to get forward, noting that he “likes watching Coentrão who played at Benfica, but my reference as a player is Roberto Carlos.”

Accompanying Sporting’s latest signing through the press conference was Sporting’s Director of Football, Carlos Freitas. Reflecting on the Frenchman’s arrival, the Director affirmed: “It was a long process because we were dealing with a club that is in a complicated situation financially and we had to allow the legal process to take its course. However, you can see from his Club Member number (89,542) that he has already been with us for a while, because Sporting current has more than 90 thousand members. When we first started the process of bringing him in, we knew that it would take a while. However, as soon as we reached a deal with the player and his agent, it was only a matter of time. He is a player that has been constantly involved with the French national teams and he has a lot of potential to grow. He has signed a five year contract with us and we are absolutely convinced that he is a player that will easily fit in at Sporting.”

Reacting to recent media speculation around the signing of Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, the Sporting director proved baffled by the rumours surrounding the future of the Danish international: “I have absolutely nothing to add to those suggestions. He is a player that is as close to Sporting as Higuain, Drogba or Krkic. They are players that are all far away from Sporting and the speculation is completely fictitious.”

Although Sporting has already been notably active in the transfer market, the director guaranteed that the Alvalade club will be monitoring developments right up until the 31st of August deadline: “I will give you two complete truths: firstly, we will continue to work until the August deadline and secondly, we are happy with the squad that we already have. The composition is built around a series of principles, one of which is equilibrium between how much the players earn. Sometimes that stands in our way, but we need to think properly about the team because when May comes around, where we are in the league won’t have been defined by just a single player. Sporting is really happy with the team that we have managed to put together and I am not going to tell you something now that you will keep bringing up until the 27th or 28th of August. We currently have two players for each position and in some we have more than two, but any exceptional situation could obviously change that. The market doesn’t close for another five weeks and who knows, maybe some of the bigger clubs will make some moves that make some good players available in a few weeks time that are not available now.”

Atila Turan signed a five year deal with a buy-out clause of 30 million Euros.

Text: Sandro Baguinho

Photo: Pedro Cruz