Turkish Top Team Deny Bolt Interest
Saga still running over where Jamaican will play football
Usain Bolt’s race to kick-off his footballing career has taken another twist after Turkey’s top flight team Sivasspor distanced themselves from the former sprinter.
Bolt was reported by the usually reliable state-run TV station TRT in Turkey that Süper Lig outfit Sivasspor had made contact with the the 32-year-old Jamaican.
However, on Friday night the club’s vice president Erdal Sarilar told ‘Agencia Anadolu’: “Sivasspor is not an athletics club, we’re not interested. The reports aren’t true, they’re not true.”
Mid-table Sivasspor were reported to be keen to sign the eight-time Olympic champion for the second half of the season, when the Turkish League’s transfer window opens on 5 January.
Yet they are not short of star quality as they already boast in their squad Brazilian aces Douglas and Robinho.
Time is running out for the Jamaican icon, who last month claimed that he would quit pursuing his footballing dream if he hadn’t signed for a club by the end of November.
He explained: “We’re trying to work out what to do right now. We’re going to make a decision at the end of November.”
A more likely move transpired earlier in the week when Bolt was linked with Mexican second division side Dorados de Sinaloa, where the legendary footballer Maradona is technical director.
But Bolt has always been adamant about only playing in the top flight at club level, so would have to rely on Dorados winning promotion at the end of their campaign.
Aa Bolt is only seeking a lucrative deal, due to being one of the world’s most marketable athletes, then any potential deal with Dorados is reliant on a huge sponsorship offer from Swiss watch giants Hublot.
Hublot sponsor both Bolt and Maradona, so have been approached about potentially backing the Jamaican if Dorados are competing in the Liga MX next term.
Bolt has shown a keen interest to sign for a leading team but nothing followed from trials with top flight sides in Australia, Germany, Norway and South Africa.
Last month he turned down two offers in a matter of days. He rejected a paltry one-season deal from Australia’s Central Coast Mariners as he was not guaranteed any playing time, and the money was 1/20th of his agent’s demands. Maltese champions Valletta FC, recently acquired by Abu Dhabi investors, were happy to sign Bolt without a trial,.for two seasons but turned down their lucrative offer.
With his self-imposed deadline of the end of November fast approaching, and nothing concrete in the pipeline, it appears that Bolt could hang up his boots.
However, the saga of where he will ply his trade is likely to keep running like the soap opera it has fast become, and yet there is still no sign of a finish line for the world’s fastest man to sign for a top-tier football team.
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