Once against just as Galatasaray seemed to be going in the right direction with their mid-season transfers, it appears they have taken a sharp left. As fans awaited the return of veteran Necati Ateş the team went ahead and signed a contract with Colin Kazım. After Kazım terminated his contract with Fenerbahçe yesterday afternoon, in the evening hours he was destined for Florya.
Signs of the impending transfer first surfaced when while paying a visit to the TT Arena, the team's new stadium, Galatasaray President Adnan Polat asked his Fenerbahçe counterpart what their plans were for Kazım. When Polat directed the question, "Have you let him go?" Fenerbahçe President Yıldırım responded by stating, "Beginning today, we will no longer harbor any interest in Kazım. The coach doesn't want him either."
Signing on for 3.5 years, yesterday evening Kazım kicked off his start with Galatasaray at the team's Antalya training camp. Kazım has signed on to receive 625,000 Euro's for the half season from Galatasaray including an additional 15,000 Euros for every game.
For the following three seasons, Kazım is set to receive a guaranteed 1,250,000 Euros each year and a per game pay out of 16,000, 17,000 and 17,500 for each consecutive year.
Up until now, Galatasaray has always introduced new transfers by showcasing a photograph of the incoming player on the club's homepage; however it seems they practically tried to gloss over the Kazım news. The only coverage of yesterday's transfer on the website was found under the heading "Announcement" and contained two sentences which followed the news of transfer Berk from the Gaziosmanpaşa Youth Team and Anıl from Galatasaray's infrastructure.
After Kazım signed on to the team, calls came in nonstop to the club centers in Florya and Mecidiyeköy. Internet forums also displayed the overall reaction to the news as fans raged, "We don't want a carouser footballer."