Galatasaray coach Okan Buruk has opened up on Victor Osimhen and the loanee striker’s transfer situation leading up to the fast-approaching January window.
Napoli striker Osimhen has a break-up clause in his loan agreement that will allow him to leave Galatasaray in January amid raging rumours around his future.
Okan Buruk has said he is confident Osimhen will remain with Galatasaray until the end of the season despite all these speculations because he is happy at the club and he has given his word to them.
The coach said the hope is even for ‘Gala’ to buy the striker permanently at the end of the season.
“I would like Osimhen’s transfer to be acquired permanently, I would like it very much as a technical director and as a fan,” the coach asserted.
“The player is with us on loan. He is with us until the end of the season. He wants to be with us. He has no thoughts about the mid-season break.
He continued: “He always confirms this. It is not right not to press the player during this process and not to bring this issue to the agenda. It is also not right from an economic perspective.
“You as Galatasaray club can make a decision later in the season, the player can make a decision. It is too early to talk.
“His interests can be shown later in the season. I think this process needs to be seen clearly and the player’s mind needs to be at ease.
“First of all, we want to acquire him. Our chairman and managers have said this. We always want to acquire him. The best thing to do is not to confuse the player while the season is going on.”
Buruk said he has always been a big admirer of the Super Eagles striker, like most clubs around the world.
“Everyone wants Osimhen on their team, 80-90 percent of them are technical directors, we can include the presidents in this,” he said.
“When Osimhen was directly mentioned to me, I said ‘okay’ right away, I didn’t think about it at all.
“I immediately thought about which system we could switch to. I didn’t think about how we would have three forwards for 1 minute, how it would be, how we would manage it, would he get offended. I thought about direct systems.
“From time to time, I said we would play 3-4-2-1, 4-4-2. These things crossed my mind all the time. We adapted very quickly.”
He added: “I wanted Osimhen very much. We see that we made the right decision. Hopefully, he will achieve success with us until the end of the season.
“He is a very proper and very good character. He embraces the team and the game. He is very collective. When he is face to face, he passes the ball to the person next to him. It is difficult for a forward player to play such a collective game.”
