I for one feel that the time for Arda to move on to Europe is not now. We raised him and he is now our Number 10 and Captain. We should reap the fruits of our labor. And by reap our fruits I mean win the Europa League this season. Arda is hands down the best player in Turkey right now and has been showing great improvement since he started his first game when he was 16. Arda is a very unique person in that his boyish charm and calm minded temperment allows him to concentrate in his football and is thus succesful with us. Im sure that if he goes to a European club, hell mature even further and really hone his footballing skills.

Both players have publicly stated that they feel it is time for them to leave in order to further their careers with Galatasaray where they will be given top class training and European football. Adnan Polat has made an impressive offer for the two starlets involving a good sum of cash along with a couple fringe players in exchange. The Manisaspor board have flatout refused to accept the offer and demand a lot more cash, around the 5 million mark for the two. Both players will see their contracts end this summer and will then be free to do as they please. Adnan Polat has stated that even if we dont get them this summer, we can simply pick them up for free next year.

What Manisaspor is doing is foolish and is against the benefit of the club. This club has only just emerged from the second league and has not had a particularly good summer in the transfer department. Galatasaray is offering to them Aykut Ercetin, an established goalkeeper who is in his late 20s in exchange for a promising goalkeeper which has no top league experience. We are also offering Mehmet Guven, an effective defensive mdifielder which has seen plenty of first team action along with Yaser Yildiz, a youngster who was the top goal scorer in the second league two seasons ago for Sezer. Add to this the ~1.5 million dollars and this is a very honest and fair deal which will see both sides profit from. Galatasaray gets two talented youngters whom it will develop while Manisaspor gets players that will help it stay in the first league this year along with a good amount of money.

What makes the situation even more bizzare is that Manisaspor has effectively imprisoned Sezer and Ufuk for declaring their desire to move on by putting them in a seperate training regimen and distancing them from their teammates. After this point it is impossible for them to be of any use to Manisa. By cutting two vital players (one of whom is the teams goalkeeper), they have shot themselves in the foot and risk falling back to the second league. It’s obvious that the Manisaspor board dont care about the Manisa fans, but only their pockets.

Should Manisaspor accept the offer? Should Galatasaray pay out what Manisaspor wants? Leave your comments below!

For those of you familiar with English football, Elano needs no introduction. A technically gifted player, hes able to use both legs effectively and possess a wicked shot. His free kicks are also something to applaud, as his free kick against Newcastle United two years back points out. After coming through the ranks of Santos, he was snapped up by ex-CimBom coach, Mircea Lucescu for Shakhtar Donetsk. He later made his way over to England where he had two impressive seasons. Elano has also played for the Brazilian national team 35 times. Pretty impressive when you consider the competition for the position.

However what makes Elano special for us is his professionalism and his high level of discipline. Thats something that the SOB Lincoln didn’t have, and so he was a failure. Elano is nothing like Lincoln. Elano will do is job as necessary and will deserve every penny of his 3 million a year contract.

So how will our midfield be next year? With Elano’s arrival, Arda will move back to the left wing where he is most comfortable as Elano takes the “Number 10″ spot and Keita will probably on the right flank. Mehmet Topal and Ayhan will probably make their stand behind this attacking front with Baros as a lone striker up front. One glaring problem with this setup. Harry Kewell will ultimately be left on the bench with this formation, something he doesn’t deserve at all. The only way to accommodate Harry is to go with a single defensive midfielder in Mehmet Topal and put Kewell on the right wing and move Keita up as a secondary striker along with Baros.

This would mean a radical shift in Galatasaray’s preseason plans as Rijkaard had consistently insisted on a 4-3-3 formation. Whether he will go for a squad rotation system to satisfy all the players or make such a shift is something that Rijkaard will have to contemplate. Until then let’s enjoy some of Elano’s magic!

Thoughts? Opinions? Leave a comment!

However is this deal right for Galatasaray? It sure is a lot of money but we will need another player to take over Servet’s place. I don’t like the idea of selling players that we need, unless we can find someone to fill in his place. If Servet leaves, that means we will need to sign TWO central defenders. If we imagine that we buy a Turkish defender from one of the Anatolian teams, that can cost an even million for say Ediz from Ankaraspor. We then have 7 million to use as we like.

There is also the issue of what to do with all the surplus players. Umit Karan, Necati Ates, Mehmet Guven, Volkan Yaman, and Shabani Nonda don’t seem to have a place in this team anymore (you could add more). However there wages are pretty sizeable with around 6-7 million dollars a year being spent on these players. Cutting them off will open up that cash that we can use as well. However with few buyers on the market, the board have a serious problem on their hands.

This post will be the last one for a month as I will be heading to Germany until the end of July on a University program in the city of Kassel. I plan to visit other European cities as well during my stay so I will be pretty much always on the move. However I do plan on visting Galatasaray’s summer training program in Bochum which runs from July 1-12 and plan to watch at least one of the exhibition matches against Bayer Leverkusen, Al Ahly, and Esperance. Hopefully I can get some great photos of the team and perhaps even snag some autographs.

Until try to catch some CimBom news of other sites or even Galatasaray’s official site galatasaray.org which does a pretty good job of keeping fans informed about the what’s going on at the club in Turkish, English, and French. Feel free to leave comments below to keep each other informed about CimBom news as well.

I personally feel that this was a smart acquisition. Mustafa is a tall, 6 foot 2 player with a strong, well built frame, just what this team of kids and toothpicks need. In order for us to be succesful in all three competitions, we need a squad which has depth, able to recover from any injury or crisis before it. Mustafa also brings to us the grit and determination that will help us this season. He has been one of the stars of Bursaspor for a good two years now and the fact that were getting him on a free transfer is a big plus.

In other news, Rijkaard his returned to his lair in Holland where he is reportedly watching DVD’s of Galatasaray’s matches from last season and will soon present teh board with a detailed list of players who will be shown the door as well as what players he wishes to bring to the team. The media is calimign that Rijkaard is going to want a central defender and a forward that will be able to compete with Baros for a first team spot. He will also deliver a verdict as to whether a goalkeeper should be brought in.

As a manager he coached the Dutch National Team before moving onto Sparta Rotterdam and then to the Catalan giants Barcelona. At Barcelona he formed the club’s playing style to how he saw fit, even though it took some time for his tactics to take hold. He insisted on a 4-3-3 style formation with the two wingers also coming into the penalty box to join in the attack. By playing a methodical passing game, Barcelona was able to both play attractive football which brought the fans to the stadium, and defeat their opponents through sheer quality.

Rijkaard is the one who brought Ronaldinho to the club and fashion him into the superstar he was during his heyday. He’s the one that pulled Messi into the first team and give him the chance to develop at a young age. He brought in top class players such as Samuel Eto’o, Deco, and Rafa Marquez. He was able to get the best out of the youth system product players such as Carles Puyol, Xavi, and Iniesta. After forming the team he wanted, he went on to win two La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, and the 05/06 Champions League title. Without a doubt, Frank Rijkaard has all the credentials.

So how will this affect our club? I would argue that it isn’t going to be too hard for Rijkaard to bring the same kind of change he brought to Barcelona to our club. He will most likely build the team around our own superstar Arda Turan, just as he built Barca around Ronaldinho. I expect him to use Milan Baros as our lone striker and for Arda and Kewell to come into help them. That would effectively be our “forward 3″.

The next part of the equation is the “middle 3″. So far the only player that I can confidently say will have a place in this three is Mehmet Topal. Will Ayhan be able to match this year’s performance? Rijkaard will probably make that decision during this summers training camp. Another question mark is whether or not Lincoln will have a place in this team. Quite frankly, he doesn’t deserve it all. If it was up to me he would be sent off as soon as possible. However theres every chance that Lincoln might feel the great need to impress his new manager. Another decision Rijkaard will have to make this summer. Other possibilities for the “middle three” include Tobias Linderoth (if he ever returns from the hospital), Baris Ozbek, Aydin Yilmaz, Mustafa Sarp, or of course we could always go shopping for a new player.

The final piece in the jigsaw is the “back four”. We can say with confidence that Hakan Balta will start as left back and Servet will play as central defender. However I believe that we will need to go shopping for a new central defender, preferebly an expensive (I’m talking around 10 million Euros), superstar central defender. I’ll leave the name of that signing to Rijkaard himself. Ugur Ucar would be my choice to start Right back, along with his number 3 jersey, but Serkan Kurtulus might be able to surprise us this season. One thing is certain, Sabri has no place in this squad and he needs to understand that. If he’s content with sitting on the bench and keeping his mouth shut, he’s welcome to stay. If not, he can piss off.

I guess if we can get a good goalkeeper on the cheap, we should get him. Leo Franco’s a name that get thrown around a lot. He would be ideal, but I doubt he will actually come. Otherwise I guess it’s back to Aykut and Orkun again.

As I’ve laid out, Rijkaard will only need to make one signing, a central defender, but he probably will want to make a couple of his own signings so that he can put an imprint on the squad. I’m very optimistic for the future of this club. Rijkaard is the kind of big name this team needs to reach its full potential.

Opinions? Thoughts? Leave a comment below!

Possible candidates? Bernd Schuster, Paul Le Guen, and Co Adriaanse are all viable targets and the Turkish media are yellnig up and down that Galatasaray are dealing with them as well as Juande Ramos and Gerard Houllier. My pick would be either Paul Le Guen or Juande Ramos.

Le Guen has trophies on his side as he was able to guide a strong Lyon side to consecutive titles. Our squad is hands down, man to man, the best squad of the Turkish league. Despite that we finished in 5th place. Le Guen will not have to actually spend too much money but if he can just manage this star-studded squad, he will be succesfull. Word has it that he’s asking for a hefty salary to come over.

We need someone who knows how to manage this club. Ramos is also a viable option. Ramos is known for instituting effective training regimens and making sure the footballers were following a healthy diet to ensure they wouldn’t be injured. This is what we need as well. I can’t remember a match last season where we were able to play our first choice squad.

Galatasaray also completed its first signing of the offseason as the 28 year old midfielder Mustafa Sarp comes over to us on a free transfer from Bursaspor. Mustafa Sarp was lauded as one of the best central midfielders in the league last season with his cool demeanor and his physical strength. And that’s exactly what this squad needs, a strongman to boss the midfield through sheer strength. Mehmet Topal and him would go good together says me.