Alim Öztürk – Keeping things steady at Trabzonspor

I meet with Alim at Schiphol airport in February just a few hours before he has to get on a plane to Turkey. His family is also there to send him off dressed in Trabzonspor scarves and shirts. The former Cambuur defender and current player for Young Turkey just signed a contract with Trabzonspor for 3.5 years.

So how did the transfer go?

It was really crazy. It all happened so fast. A few days ago the trainer, who knows me from my internship at Young Turkey, decided he wanted to have me on the team immediately. They asked Henk-Maarten Chin to represent me at the negotiations and before I knew it, I had a few days to arrange everything and here I am now.

Is it a dream come true?

Of course! Only I have to say that as a kid I dreamt of playing for a major Dutch club, but this is an even greater gift. Trabzonspor can be compared to a club like Feijenoord in the Turkish league.

What kind of player are you?

I think of myself as a hard working steady player. I don’t do crazy things. A team should be able to rely on me at all times. That means I have to be consistent in all aspects of my life.

So you don’t have a crazy personal life either?

No, I am a very calm person in my private life. I don’t go out much, because there is no room for that as a professional football player.

But what do you do for fun?

I like music. I listen to beautiful Turkish music. The songs I listen to have great lyrics about important things.

What did you have to give up to become a pro?

Not much, really. Of course you can’t do everything that other people do like go out every night and the weekends are usually dedicated to football, but I don’t care. I am grateful for the life I chose to have. It is my dream and it has come true.