The name Nadir Çiftçi might not mean much to either Manchester City or Arsenal fans, but he is a player the two clubs were once fighting over.
The 31-year-old striker is currently playing for Karaman FK in the Turkish second division after a nomadic career, but there was a point, when he was much younger, when the top teams were after him.
The player gave an interview to Soccer News about his entire career, and recalls how Arsenal nearly hijacked his transfer to Manchester City.
Now, fans of the Etihad residents will be asking why they don’t remember him, and that’s because the deal taking him to the north of England never went through.
Arsenal supporters, though, will remember Oguzhan Özyakup, who remained with the Gunners from 2008 to 2012 before being sold to Besiktas, and it was because of him and their agent that Çiftçi nearly ended up at Manchester City.
“Arsenal were my dream club, so I wanted to leave Manchester City right away, but that would be rude. I gave them a chance and they convinced me with their plans. Sven-Göran Eriksson, the manager at the time, immediately wanted me to train with the first-team. I signed a pre-contact and was supposed to go to England six months later, but the club was taken over and all transfer were cancelled.”
Çiftçi explains that was a ‘big disappointment’ for him, but he was able to go to the Premier League later on in his career, that summer in fact, when Portsmouth came knocking.
After his transfer to the now League One side, he played for – time to take a deep breath – Kayserispor, NAC Breda, Dundee United, Celtic, Eskisehirspor, Pogon Szczecin, Plymouth, Motherwell FC, Genclerbirligi, Rizespor, Samsunspor, Ankaragücü, St Johnstone, Makedonikos, Iskenderunspor and now Karaman FK.
