Erding, the (long) Turkish march

While some transfers seem to be completed in a matter of days, some are taking long months to happen. Mevlüt Erding at La Piverdière, (finally) a reality for the Rennes management who haven’t stopped hoping for his arrival since over a year.
In fact, the interest was real way earlier. As soon as 2009, as the French-Turkish striker was looking for a new destination after his promising debuts in Sochaux, Stade Rennes expressed an interest. While the club looked for a quality striker to take the centre-forward position, Rennes faced refusal from the young man from Franche Comté who was looking higher. Despite an interest from Bordeaux, freshly crowned as French champions, Erding was looking at no club but Paris Saint-Germain, the “club of his heart” as he then explained.

First match, first goal

Born in the Jura from a Turkish family, Erding (whose name would be Erdinç without a mistake from the French administration) isn’t even born in the Greater Paris area, but he dreamt of the club from the capital. Arrived at FC Sochaux Academy aged thirteen, he soon found his way to the first team. On November 19th 2005, he played his first Ligue 1 game at eighteen. And the debut was promising: entered five minutes before the end of the game, he scored the victorious goal during injury-time against Ajaccio (1-0).

However, Erding didn’t become a first team member overnight. It would take him over a year and a half before managing it, which would leave him on the bench during Sochaux’ victory in the Coupe de France final, in 2007. The following summer, with Frédéric Hantz succeeding to Alain Perrin as manager, the young striker finally became a first team regular, with the departure of Anthony Le Tallec opening his way into the starting XI.
In two seasons, he would score twenty goals and reveal himself as one of the most promising players in the French league. Powerful, all round efficient striker, he attracted the attention of the Ligue 1 big guns… but also of his country of origin. His performances allowed him to play the Euro 2008 with Turkey, even though he remained a substitute behind Semih Sentürk. An experience which allows him to be remembered as a European Championship semi-finalist.

After this came the aforementioned transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, and a successful first season with fifteen goals and several assists. A 2009-2010 season in which he ended winning the Coupe de France, this time starting the game on the pitch at the Stade de France. However, the situation took a turn for the worse soon after: losing his touch at the beginning of the following season, Erding was soon hit by criticism from both the fans and the media, despite his content abnegation.
Suddenly left without solutions in attack after the late departures of Gyan and Bangoura, Stade Rennes considered recruiting him in the autumn, and tried to recruit him as a joker. The reply from Paris was clear: there would be no transfer. And this, even though Antonetti announce that he was ready to “drive and pick up Erding himself” if there was a possibility to complete the transfer.

Loyalty

As months went by, this loyalty from Rennes would never be denied. A week ago, Frédéric Antonetti explained once again that he had talked to the player on the phone, and insisted on the will of Rennes to bring him. “We want him, we have expressed our interest a long time ago”, the Corsican manager affirmed. A willingness to sign him which probably pushed the player to take this decision, as he explained to L’Équipe this Wednesday that he wants to “repay the faith” shown to him by Antonetti, and that he would “have had regrets” if he had never played for him during his career.
His willingness to be transferred to Rennes has often been questioned however, especially last summer. But it is difficult to blame a player who kept on claiming his love for the PSG and clearly didn’t want to leave the club. It would take no less than the combination of sportive disgrace, a new ultra-ambitious sportive policy, the arrival of a new director of sports and the departure of a manager to convince him to leave the capital. At the end of August however, the deal was nearly done and the player had packed up to leave. But the absence of a replacement in Paris, the trust of Kombouaré and, above all, the end of match of Mevlüt Erding in Toulouse (read previously) finally blocked the transfer and forced the return of Youssouf Hadji to Brittany.

All being well that ends well, it is six months later that Mevlüt Erding finally arrives in Brittany. “He is a true reinforcement for us, another player in our attacking line, with his very personal set of abilities”, Frédéric Antonetti rejoiced in an interview to the AFP yesterday, describing his new player as “a complete player, very good at calling the ball”, who only needs to find his confidence back.
Out of playing time in Paris, where he didn’t start a game in Ligue 1 this season, the Turkish international has only got one desire, “to play and score goals”, to “show what [he is] capable of”. A quest of confidence which should, on the long-term, happen to the detriment of Victor Hugo Montaño.

- Photo : psgmag.net