Turkey starlet and Orenburg winger Emircan Gurluk admits he chose to move to Russia last summer despite interest from Premier League giants Manchester City.
Whether this is a decision the youngster comes to regret later down the line, only time will tell.
Emircan Gurluk could surely only have benefitted from the chance to hone his considerable talents under the finest coach in world football, after all, though the prospect of more regular first-team football at Orenburg quickly offset the temptation of putting pen to paper with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Emircan Gurluk snubbed Manchester City move
“Before my move to Orenburg, there really was interest from Manchester City,” Gurluk tells Championat. “But I chose Orenburg because I have more chances to play here.”
Gurluk, a Turkish youth international, rose through the ranks at Altinord. The same club who produced Caglar Soyuncu, Cengiz Under and another one-time Man City target, Berke Ozer.
Now wearing Orenburg’s number seven shirt, Gurluk has played 13 times for the Russian Premier League outfit since his arrival.
“Manchester City sent their scouts three times (to watch Gurluk),” agent Ibrahim Isen explains, also speaking to Championat. “Many teams were interested in him, for example Westerlo (in Belgium).
“First of all, we wanted Emircan to play and progress. After conversations with representatives of Orenburg, we decided that here Emircan will be able to prove himself here and achieve success.”
Isen admits that Besiktas, one of the biggest clubs in Gurluk’s Turkish homeland, came to an agreement during the summer window. By that point, however, one of the country’s brightest talents had already given his word to Orenburg.
‘We have big goals’
“We have big goals, and we are taking steps forward. It is very important to work (his defensive output), and Emircan is progressing in this aspect in Russia,” the agent adds. “If you want to play in a big club, then you must be able to play defensively.”
Abdulkadir Omur, another of Turkey’s bright young things, admitted a few months ago that Manchester City had shown an interest in him too, even going as far as to submit a £23 million bid.
Now 24, however, Omur is yet to build on that initial promise, a man once labelled Turkey’s answer to Lionel Messi still plying his trade at Trabzonspor.
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