Over the last two decades, Borussia Dortmund have made a name for themselves with their skill to unearth young talents and develop them into world-class players. Stars such as Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, Mario Gotze and Marco Reus all got their big break at the Signal Iduna Park, from where they have or they would secure a move to Europe’s best clubs.
Perhaps a forgotten name from this German production line of talent would be Turkish player Nuri Sahin who came up through Dortmund’s academy and had two long spells with the first team at the club (2005-11, 2013-18).
At the age of 16, Sahin made his first debut for BVB in 2005 and became the youngest player to have played in the Bundesliga, a record only surpassed as recently as 2020. The central midfielder went on to play for European giants Real Madrid and Liverpool after which he returned to Germany to play for Dortmund and Werder Bremen.
In his long career, Sahin has won a Bundesliga title, a La Liga title, a DFB Pokal Cup and a UCL runner’s medal before retiring from club football at the age of 33 following the end of a one-season spell at Turkish outfit Antalyaspor in 2021.
But the ex-BVB man has continued to remain at Antalyaspor and has surprised football fans by immediately jumping into a coaching job after taking over as the manager of the side in the Turkish Super Lig in 2021.
Having finished 16th in the table last season, Antalyaspor under Sahin currently sit 9th and seems to have already escaped the threat of relegation. In their last 10 games, the Turkish side has 7 wins and 3 draws and looks to be mounting a quest for European spots this season.
Sahin’s immediate impact on the team has been applauded by football fans who have followed his playing career. However, his good works seem to have also attracted big coaching names such as Liverpool and ex-BVB manager Jurgen Klopp.
“I spoke with Klopp after the last Altay match. He texted me the score of the match and wrote ‘wow’ under it. He is following,” revealed Sahin who played under the German coach at Dortmund.
As he has already outdone Antalyaspor’s performance from last season, Sahin would be hoping to get them to Europe in the near future to gain more experience facing tougher challenges as a coach and would be hoping to use it to coach his Dortmund one day.
