Arda TURAN: “I wouldn’t call coming to Shakhtar a desire to prove something”

The head coach of “Shakhtar” Arda Turan told Spanish journalists about the motivation that prompted him to move to work in Ukraine, and also named the goals and tasks facing the “miners” under his leadership.

Shakhtar is a great team. It has a very deep culture and DNA steeped in success. I am very happy to be here. I always say: in terms of organizational structure, this is one of the most professional clubs I have ever seen. Every person at every level does their job to the best of their abilities. Of course, I am aware of the current situation in the country, but the club is doing everything possible so that both we and the players suffer as little as possible. I am a passionate coach with big dreams. And Shakhtar is also a club with big dreams. Our views coincide perfectly.”

“I wouldn’t call it that [прихід у «Шахтар»] the desire to prove something. Rather, my dreams and my chemistry matched perfectly with Shakhtar. Success is in the history of this club, in its DNA. This is a club that has achieved a lot both domestically and in Europe. I believe that success is a habit and my goal is to help this club get back into that habit. Of course, we want to become champions again – this is our main goal. We are a very young and growing team. Shakhtar has always been a club that participates in European Cups. I believe these European matches are vital to the experience of our players. That is why we also have a goal in the Conference League: we want to go as far as possible and contribute to the club’s long-standing tradition of participating in European competitions.”

“As I already mentioned, the club does everything possible to minimize the influence of external factors on the team. They create a great working environment for us. Of course, we face situations that we have never faced before, both psychologically and physically. For example, we often have to travel by bus for a long time across the country and beyond to participate in matches. We are going to Poland for European matches, and crossing the border requires certain procedures and time. So we had to completely adapt our recovery methods to fit this schedule. We are trying to develop new approaches. Given such a tight schedule, this is a difficult task. In addition, we have a very young squad, so we make a special effort to guide the players, motivate them and support their dreams.”

Earlier, Turan stated that Shakhtar’s goal in the Conference League is to reach at least the 1/8 finals of the tournament.