Sunderland central defender Alim Ozturk moved to Wearside from Boluspor.
Turkish central defender Alim Ozturk joined Sunderland from Boluspor earlier in the summer and the 25-year-old has played seven games across all competitions on Wearside.
The former Hearts defender hasn’t quite managed to secure a place in manager Jack Ross’s side just yet, with some poor displays in League One.
And despite a tough opening few months with his new club, Ozturk admitted in an interview with the Chronicle that despite being happy with his former club, a move to Sunderland couldn’t be turned down in the summer.
When speaking about his time in the North-East so far, Ozturk said: “If you see the stadium here… it’s unbelievable, we play at home in front of 30,000 people. This is a club that does not belong in the League One.
“I was happy in Turkey and wanted to stay, but if a club like Sunderland comes in for you, that is a different story. At that moment the other options were actually gone, there was not a club that could match Sunderland.”
Ozturk is probably at the lower end of the pecking order in Ross’ defensive options, with Jack Baldwin, Glenn Loovens and Tom Flanagan all ahead of him on their recent impressive displays.
Although, with the Black Cats set to have a week off from third-tier football, Ozturk could get his chance to impress in the first-round of the FA Cup away to Port Vale on Sunday afternoon.
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