Hands off! Tuncay is going nowhere.
So said Boro boss Gareth Southgate on this day in 2008 as he insisted he had no plans to let the Turkish striker move on in the summer.
The experienced frontman hadn’t even completed his first season at Boro but with six games of the campaign to go, the rumour mill was beginning to churn.
Galatasaray were being linked with a £5m move for Tuncay, a move that would represent a good bit of business in a financial sense for Boro less than a year after they’d signed the striker on a free.
But that wasn’t tempting Southgate to cash in.
“He’s a good player and he’ll always be linked with moves and I’m sure lots of the Turkish clubs would want to take him but I’m very happy with what he’s done,” said Southgate.
“I enjoy working with him and I don’t expect that to be an issue.”
Gareth Southgate was trying to build a squad at Boro so the last thing he needed was to lose a key player.
And although Tuncay perhaps hadn’t been as prolific in front of goal as the manager would have hoped - he didn’t break his Boro duck until December - he had managed to settle and offered glimpses of genuine quality.
His goal at Derby in the December, a delightful first time volley, would be a contender for goal of the season and he’d scored the decider in the reverse fixture between the sides.
“Football in Turkey and here are very different and it takes time to settle,” the striker admitted.
“The first two months were very hard but I was never worried. I always knew it would take time.”
Settled and happy, Southgate was delighted with Tuncay’s contribution and believed he was only going to get better.
“I think Tuncay’s enjoying his football with us, I think he’s improved as the season has gone on,” he said.
“He’s enjoying life here as well, he’s a very happy lad who enjoys his work and I think he’s been an asset for us this season and one we would certainly not want to lose.”
No comments:
Post a Comment