The Eredivisie season will kick off on Friday with Heerenveen – Sparta. In the run-up, our club watchers look ahead to the new football season. In this episode: Fortuna Sittard.
There was a time when Fortuna was not automatically the talk of the town in Sittard. Those times have changed since Burak Yılmaz (37) settled in the hills of South Limburg. The arrival of the 77-time Turkish international has led to a significant boost among the supporters. With 5,500 subscriptions already sold, season ticket sales are a lot higher than the 4,400 that were worn out last year and the sponsor lodges are also in danger of outgrowth.
The sentiment in the otherwise modest Sittard: this may well be the season in which the yellow-greens start to surprise. Crazy fan talk? Could be. Still, the optimism is based on something. Especially the presence of Isitan Gün and Atilla Aytekin. Thanks to them, two wealthy Turkish financiers with a huge football heart, Fortuna is working this season with a player budget of seven million euros. For comparison: recognized sub-topper Heerenveen has a salary house of 4.5 million, while Cambuur – on paper a competitor of Fortuna – has to make do with four tons less.
Recently, Michel Vlap’s comment was significant, who confessed that he could have earned more in Sittard than at the club he ultimately remained loyal to: FC Twente. At least that is indicative of the decisiveness on the Milan Street: for the defender Rodrigo Guth, who came over from Atalanta Bergamo, the club, who barely maintained itself on the final day last year, casually paid a million euros. It cannot be otherwise than Sjors Ultee, the young and enthusiastic Fortuna coach, realizes that this season no longer will be satisfied with self-preservation. Nor with a safe classification in the right row.
No, they want more in Sittard. And all thanks to the presence of ‘King Burak’. Even before the top striker has played his very first official game, he has turned the sentiment 180 degrees at Fortuna. In the city, where they cooed with pleasure until the promotion in 2018 after victories at TOP Oss or Telstar, they now want European football.
Player to watch out for
Fortuna Sittard has been around for decades, but official player presentations? No, they never did that at the Limburg club. Until last month, when Burak Yılmaz was proudly presented to the media. It says everything about the expectations attached to the former goal-getter of, among others, Besiktas, Galatasaray, OSC Lille and the Turkish national team. In Sittard everything revolves around him.
Basic setup
van Osch; Tirpan, Guth, Siovas, Cox; Duarte, Gladon, Erdogan; Cordoba, Yilmaz, Seuntjens.
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