After his contract ran out at Strasbourg, Alexander Djiku saw his inbox flooded with offers, including one from Nottingham Forest.
We covered the story extensively at the time, with the Tricky Trees trying to get the player to bolster their defence ahead of a new season in the Premier League.
In the end, Nottingham Forest lost out to Fenerbahçe, who eventually convinced that a move to Turkey was better than the City Ground, and the player, speaking to Foot Mercato, has no regrets over his decision.
Very happy at his new club, the centre-back was asked about various topics, including his decision to choose Fenerbahçe over other clubs.
While Nottingham Forest aren’t mentioned directly, they were well reported to be one of the teams after the 29-year-old at the time.
He said: “With my agent, we made this choice for several reasons. First of all, we were thrilled by the sporting project that was presented to us. They explained they wanted to build a hugely competitive team by signing some good recruits like Edin Dzeko, Dusan Tadic, Fred and Dominik Livakovic, to name but a few.
“Not only that, the club was playing in Europe, which was a key factor in my choice. I’d already played in one with Strasbourg, and I wanted to experience that again in the short-term. It’s a club that also bring a lot of exposure.”
Djiku then goes on to naming the likes of Kim Min-jae, Arda Güler and Simon Kjaer, who all played at Fenerbahçe before moving to bigger clubs.
That’s why he felt Turkey over a mid-table team in the Premier League like Nottingham Forest might be the ‘right springboard’ for his career.
Overall, he felt it was ‘logical and natural’ to choose the Turkish side, and he hasn’t looked back since.
