Sporting chief fondly remembers Çetinkaya, explains why | OneFootball

Hasan Çetinkaya was the agent responsible for the transfers of Viktor Gyokeres and Conrad Harder. The businessman did not act in good faith with Sporting, but Frederico Varandas admits to "keeping excellent memories," since no commissions were paid during the players’ moves.

"I sent a message to congratulate Gyokeres. Viktor will always be a legend of this Club and I, as President of Sporting, will always defend the legends of this Club. Viktor was one of the best professionals I have had here until the end of the season. He is a legend and one of the best in Sporting’s history," he said.

When further questioned about Harder’s sale to Leipzig, Varandas admitted: "Regarding that, I’ll just say one thing... do you know who our main target in the market was last year? Fotis (Ioannidis). We couldn’t get him. I have no problem with that and this is my job, to strengthen the team with the best I can. Always."

"President, that player is very difficult. It doesn’t matter, I’ll go there. ‘Ah, but it will come out in the press that Sporting couldn’t do it.’ What do I care about that?!? What do I care about what they’re going to say?!? What matters to me is having an increasingly stronger group," he stated.

Varandas admitted that Sporting is now better prepared offensively and that no commission was paid to Hasan Çetinkaya, the agent of the Nordic players: "We lost Viktor, a legend of this Club... We lost that player and invested 44 million euros in two forwards. And the second forward today is much better prepared than last year’s second forward, who was Harder, a young man with immense potential, had expectations of being a starter, which is totally legitimate."

"Of the agents, I can only keep excellent memories, because I don’t think they are good. I think they are very good, because I managed to make 90 million euros and didn’t pay a cent in commission. So, I have the best memories of them," assured the President of Sporting.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.