Dirk Kuyt - 'Robin van Persie would like to play for Fenerbahçe one day'
2012-07-17 05:02:07
Dirk Kuyt held a press conference today in the Fenerbahçe pre-season training grounds, located in Austria.
The former Liverpool star said, "I spent six years, four months at Liverpool. First of all I'd like to thank my teammates, managers, the fans and all the people that worked for Liverpool football club.
"I am at a great club and I'm very happy to be here, I believe Fenerbahçe will become a club like Liverpool.
"I would like to thank my captain, Alex De Souza. Alex gave me a very warm welcome, he made a speech yesterday in front of my teammates wishing me all the best, it was a moving moment, we are like a family here, its a great team environment.
"I've come to realize just how big this club is, it's not just football its more than that, there are so many sporting branches. It's amazing to see how many Turkish Olympic athletes are from Fenerbahçe teams.
"Fenerbahçe also have their own clothing and phone company, it just shows the size of this club, its a huge community.
"I can't wait to start playing here, I want to become part of the history of this club" Kuyt said.
The Dutch international then went on to take questions from reporters, he responded to questions about his ideal position, the importance of supporters and gave the press a surprise with his comments about Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie.
Kuyt told reporters, "I'm a front player, I have played in almost every position upfront, I told my coach he can use me in any position.
"At the moment it seems like I'll be used on the right side. I could also be used behind the striker. However, most important of all I'm a team player, I'll play whereever the team needs me.
"Supporters in football are really important for me, when I started at Utrecht they had fanatic supporters, the same can be said for Feyenoord, they had some of the best supporters in Holland.
"When I signed for Liverpool I was joining one of the best football teams in England with some of the sports most famous fans.
"The same can be said about Fenerbahçe, they have great supporters, during my signing ceremony there were thousands of supporters in the stadium.
"A fanatical fanbase is a very important thing, I think everybody in the world knows how important the Fenerbahçe supporters are to the club.
"Technically, I'm not like a Sneider or Van Persie or Messi but I've always played at the highest level, I scored in the Champions League final for Liverpool, I score in important moments.
"I'm at this level because I work hard, I may not be the nicest player to watch but I like to get stuck in and put in effort for the team.
"Me and Van Persie were on holiday together for two weeks, before I signed he always spoke very highly about Fenerbahçe, he played twice against Fenerbahçe and was very impressed by the team and supporters.
"Van Persie said that one day he'd like to play for Fenerbahçe, for now that's not an issue however, in the future who knows" Kuyt stated.
Fenerbahce signed Kuyt from Liverpool for €1 million.
The 31-year-old forward has signed a 3 year contract with the Istanbul club worth €2.85 million per season in addition to a match bonus of €17,500.
Kuyt joined Liverpool in 2006 from Dutch giants Feyenoord and went onto represent The Reds 285 times, scoring 71 goals in addition to 38 assists.
