Ozan Kökçü faces the biggest game of his football career. The brother of Feyenoord midfielder Orkun Kökçü, who is under contract with Telstar, will compete against PSV in the TOTO KNVB Cup on Thursday evening. The 23-year-old midfielder played in youth at FC Groningen and Feyenoord, but did not make it as far as his brother. He came to Telstar last summer via RKC Waalwijk, among others.
Ozan Kökçü decided at the age of eighteen to move from the youth academy of Feyenoord to the Turkish Bursaspor. Fenerbahce also showed interest, but Bursaspor stood out better and was regarded as a training club, which would be better for the development of the midfielder. “Enes Ünal, former top scorer of FC Twente, was a good example of such a trained player from Bursaspor,” says Kökçü in conversation with the NOS. “And so there were more cases. So it was really a very conscious choice, because I could have gone for the money at Fenerbahçe.”
For Kökçü, however, the adventure did not go as planned. After Bursaspor and a rental period at RKC, he was under contract with Giresunspor, but when the entire board was replaced there, that was enough for him. “The people who had brought me in were no longer there,” he says. “I had signed for four years and a plan had been mapped out for me, but that could go in the trash. That was very difficult.” Kökçü decided to leave Turkey behind and signed for Sabah FC in Azerbaijan in 2019. In the meantime, through an international collaboration with Turkey, he has grown into a youth international.
“I advise against every young player to go that way (Turkey, ed.)”, said Kökçü, who also advised his younger brother when he was in the interest of Galatasaray. “I’ve made that mistake before and that’s why I advised Orkun to stay here at the time. The Netherlands is really a training country, perhaps the best in the world. Fortunately, he listened to my advice. Am I jealous? On the contrary. We are not only brothers, but also best friends. Orkun and I are one. That is just love.”
Ozan Kökçü himself now wears the Telstar shirt. “Andries (Jonker, ed.) was an important reason for me to return. He does everything he can to help me with my career. I have missed that all my football life. I have never had such a person to support me. to.” Jonker is satisfied with Kökçü’s development. “Ozan’s potential was shining when he came in, but he was very far from his possible level. The first thing I said to him was, ‘You’re not fit.’ I put him in touch with a dietician and initially did not let him play. Now he has been playing in the base for the last few weeks and he deserves that too.”