Monday, August 1, 2022 at 9:36 PM• Wessel Antes

Burak Yilmaz has a conditional deficit and does not assume that he will be part of the match selection of Fortuna Sittard on Saturday, he reports in front of the cameras of ESPN. The 37-year-old Turk did not arrive in Sittard until mid-July. It seems that trainer Sjors Ultee has to choose an alternative against Ajax. Paul Gladon seems the most obvious option.

Yilmaz got from ESPN the question whether he will be there against Ajax on Saturday afternoon. “I do not think so. I’m not ready yet to be honest. I trained with the squad three or four times. There are still a few days to go, but I want to be fit for the race.” Last Saturday, Yilmaz made his unofficial basic debut for Fortuna in the friendly match against VVV-Venlo (5-1 win). The striker has yet to score.

Earlier, Ultee indicated that ninety minutes in the season opener against Ajax will be tight for Yilmaz. “His preparation has only just begun. You can expect less than an hour and a half from Burak. What is, is hard to say. We will have to choose. Are we going for the start or the end of the game? Neither will work.” Now it remains to be seen whether Yilmaz will even be there against the team from Amsterdam. The match will be played next Saturday at 4.30 pm in the Offermans Joosten Stadium.

Fortuna was already able to strengthen itself this summer with no fewer than thirteen new players. Besides Yilmaz, Rodrigo Guth (Atalanta BC), Iñigo Cordoba (Athletic Club) and Dogan Erdogan (Gaziantep FK) came to Limburg. On the other hand, the departure of, among others, strong holder Zian Flemming. Flemming became Fortuna’s highest outgoing transfer ever with an amount of three million euros. He was allowed to make his debut on Saturday fourteen minutes before time during Millwall’s 2-0 win over Stoke City.