BigSoccer - Tomas Is A Lion

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Galatasaray has made an agreement with Croatian national team player Stjepan Tomas.

Tomas arrived in Istanbul yesterday and went to the Florya Metin Oktay Grounds to talk with the Board Members of Galatasaray Sports Club. A signing ceremony was held at the Galatasaray Sportif A.Ş. building in Mecidiyeköy at 16:00 today.

Stjepan Tomas | İnfo
Stjepan Tomas was born in 1976, and was part of an NK Dinamo Club team which won five championships and 3 Croatian Cups, dominating the Croatian League in the second half of the 90s. In 2000 he transferred to the Vicenza club in the Italian A series, and wore their jersey for two seasons. He played with the Italian Como team in the 2002-03 season, and last season played for Fenerbahçe on loan. He first played for the Croatian National Team in April 1998 in a game against Poland, and participated in all of the matches played by Croatia in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup. He also wore the national jersey in the three matches played by the national team in the 2002 World Cup, and five times in the qualifiers for EURO 2004. At 1.86 in height and weighing 82kg, Stjepan Tomas plays in defence

Fatih Gökşen and Niyazi Yelkencioğlu, Members of the Board of Galatasaray Sports Club, together with Mustafa Turgun, Sportif Director, participated in the ceremony at which a 3-year (with 1 year option) contract was signed with Tomas. Following the ceremony, Tomas, wearing the Galatasaray jersey, expressed his pleasure at joining a major team like Galatasaray, saying that the forthcoming centenary year was very important to him also and thanking everyone who had brought him to the team, in particular Gheorghe Hagi and Chairman Özhan Canaydın.

GALATASARAY 2004-05 SIGNINGS

Flavio Conceicao (DEPORTIVO)
Alioum Saidou (ISTANBUL FC)
Rigobert Song (LENS)
Ibrahim Yavuz (ADANA)
Stjepan Tomas (FENERBAHCE)

FOREIGNERS OF GALATASARAY (2004-05)

Feryd Mondragon (COLOMBIA)
Ovidiu Petre (ROMANIA)
Alioum Saidou (CAMEROON)
Stjepan Tomas (CROATIA)
Rigobert Song (CAMEROON)
Flavi Conceicao (BRAZIL)
Elvir Baljic (BOSNIA)

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Fatih Gökşen spoke briefly at the ceremony and responded to the questions of the media, saying “Firstly I would like to thank you all for coming. As we have said before, we are transferring players who have proven themselves in positions where the club has particular needs and who have been chosen with great care and diligence. This was our goal and as the Board of Directors we are happy that we have done this. As we enter our centenary year, we believe that we are keeping the promises we made. Today we have signed on Tomas. We welcome him to the team. We have no doubt that he will strengthen the team. He has already proved himself in Turkey. We have now strengthened our defence, along with our other positions. We are the top contender for the championship. Now it’s up to our supporters, our players and the technical staff. The management did everything it could.

We had the right to use six foreigners this season and we have filled this quota. If we have a request from the coach we will continue to talk with players who are on the agenda. We will maintain our close links with players who are part of our project. Nobody should have any doubts – if there is a need for players in certain positions we will obtain them.

We made a 3-year (with 1 year option) agreement with Tomas and obtained him with a testimonial. He had been training with his Italian club anyway. Today he underwent health check-ups. After leaving here he will have his first training session in Florya by himself. From Sunday he will take part in the training sessions and will have his first outing with the team in the Suat Kaya jubilee match.

Our preparation matches should our weak sides. In line with the coach’s wishes we urgently focused on our defence. You must remember that at the end of the last season Galatasaray had seven foreigners, one of which was PAF. It is not easy, while on the one hand making new transfers, on the other hand you have to send off some old players. We got rid of five players and took on four new ones. This is not something which should be underestimated. If the coach feels the need, then of course we will do what is necessary.”