World championships are ideal opportunities for clubs to scout the best talent when the domestic season ends.
The 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan was no exception when Hasan Sas played the leading role for Turkey on the way to an unforgettable finish.
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Manager Senol Goves led his country to his best place in her second World Cup appearance.
One of the most important artists in Türkiye was SAS, who was then 25-year-old wing player from Galatasaray, who scored two goals and supported another three, including a strike against Brazil.
He was selected in the all-star squad of the tournament, in which stars such as Oliver Kahn, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo also took part.
And he even put Ronaldinho and Cafu in the Ballon d’Orranglisten for 2002.
The performances of SAS aroused the upper sides throughout Europe, with English giants Liverpool one of the well -known admirers.
As quoted by Sky Sports, his agent Hakan Azman Planetfootball said about the increasing interest in his customer: “It is an unusual situation.
“I usually had no problems selling a player like Hasan SAS. His brilliant world championship meant that many clubs became admirers.
“But when they saw that his contract had expired in summer [of 2003] They decided to wait. Liverpool made inquiries about the player, but did not make a realistic offer at that time. “
SAS, who was also of reported interest from Bayern Munich and Inter Milan, stayed in Galatasaray and never joined Liverpool, a step that many players would have difficulty.
But he stayed in Turkey and scaled the red because of the finances offered, despite the global meaning that they have boasted for decades.
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“I met with many agents after the 2002 World Cup,” he said in an interview with Sky Turk about Hurriyet.
“They all came to take me to a team in Europe. But now I understand that they were not all big agents.
“Nevertheless, Liverpool wanted me. Although my transmission fee was high, there were other offers.
“Due to the economic crisis, the money they would give me was much lower than what I would earn in Turkey.
“But if I had the mind, I would have accepted this offer. If I were 25 now, I would have accepted this little money and had gone without a second thought.”
SAS changed from Galatasaray from the Turkish Club MKE Ankaragucu for the first time in 1998, but missed a large part of the games in his first year after he had positively tested phenylpropanolamine.
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He returned for the 1999/2000 season to win the title of Turkish League and the UEFA Cup [now the Europa League] Beat arsenal in the final.
Manager Fatih Terim then left Fiorentina in Italy, but returned in 2002, only so that the European family tree from Galatasaray slowly decreases.
Bagis Erten, a commentator for the Istanbul -based radio broadcaster Acik Radyo, told Al Jazeera in 2004: “It was a bad choice with him [Terim] back.”
Erten added: “While Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup, there was nothing left behind. The system behind the team was very weak, especially the financial system.”
The columnist Semih Gumus also commented: “A world class team was created by Fatih Terim, but not a world class club.
“That is why Galatasaray has now become the most in the debt club in Turkey with debts of around 150 million US dollars.”
“To win again, the club has to put the right players in the right places,” said Gumus too. “But Galatasaray’s budget is shot.
“Without the budget to transfer the right players, the team will be in great difficulty next year, the 100th anniversary of Galatasaray.”
However, financial problems in the club did not seem to influence the SAS because he stayed in Galatasaray for the rest of his career before retiring in 2009.
He won a total of five Turkish league titles with the club as well as three Turkish trophies, a Turkish super cup and the UEFA Super Cup.
SAS made 354 appearances, scored 38 goals and supported another 95 and returned for off-pitch rolls in the following years.
The former Turkey International was her deputy manager in two stations from 2011 to 2013 and then 2018 to 2020.