Cedi Osman will be one of the key players for PAOK next season. The Turkish national team captain has signed a three-year contract with the Thessaloniki club and explained what convinced him to accept the new challenge, while also outlining the team’s goal of reaching the EuroLeague. Speaking to Turkish YouTube channel Socrates Dergi, the player also looked back on his two years with Panathinaikos and the difficulties surrounding his departure.
Discussing PAOK’s project, Osman said: “I am very excited to play for PAOK. When we first spoke, they presented me with the project, the goals and their plans. That really excited me. Yes, it is a team that plays in the EuroCup. But our goal is to play in the EuroLeague and we have a very good roster to achieve that. We have Andrea Trinchieri as our coach. So the club’s excitement and vision really impressed me.”
His relationship with Trinchieri was one of the factors that helped convince him to make the move. “When they first told me that Trinchieri was going to call me, I said, ‘Okay, I’ll talk to him’, but I still had a contract, so I couldn’t tell him much. When we spoke, though, we had a very good conversation. We even spoke in Serbian because he knows the language. That made our conversation even more comfortable. We talked for about 10-15 minutes. He told me what he expected from me. He said: ‘It will be a difficult season for you because I will ask a lot from you. I’m not asking you to score 20 points every game, because then I would have killed you’. But he told me he expected from me what I always do: energy on offense, on defense, and keeping the team together. Those things were very important to him and when we discussed them, I really felt relieved. Because I knew exactly what he wanted from me. I knew what his expectations were and I knew I could meet them. About a week later, he sent me an incredible message. If I showed you the message, you would say, ‘Wow’. He wrote something like: ‘Come on, brother, come to PAOK too’. It was an incredible message. It affected me a lot and from that point on, all the conversations went very well. We completed the deal within two weeks.”
Osman then discussed the difficulty of leaving Panathinaikos despite having one year remaining on his contract. “It was not an easy decision for me. I still had one year left on my contract with Panathinaikos and the conversations we had mainly indicated that I would remain with the team. I spoke both with coach Obradovic and our president. Sometimes a player can sense whether he is wanted or not… you understand the relationship that exists. I felt that to some extent, then things developed and we reached this outcome.”
The player also discussed Panathinaikos’ signing of Isaac Bonga and how the situation influenced his decision: “When we first spoke, when the news about Efes came out, the Panathinaikos GM called me and said: ‘We want you. We are not sending you anywhere. We are very happy with you. As soon as the issues with the coach are cleared up, we will sit down and talk about what we will do in the coming years’. And I told him that I agreed and that I felt the same way. I told him: ‘Okay, let’s sit down and talk. I’m ready whenever you are’. A week later, however, they signed Bonga. And obviously, a player can come in, a player can leave. I have no problem with that. I have never been afraid to compete for my position. Even in my rookie season in the NBA, I was a starter on an incredible team. After managing to earn my place there, I thought: ‘I won’t be able to earn my place here?’. I am never afraid of competition. I never avoid the battle. After that, about two or three weeks went by and nobody contacted me. At the same time, other teams were calling me and I was talking to them. Since other teams were calling me, I thought that obviously they had heard something or knew something as well, and then I thought: ‘There is probably a conversation along the lines of: “We want you, but if you want to leave, we can sit down and discuss it”’. So I said: ‘I want to go where I am truly wanted’. I want to go somewhere where they will give me that recognition, and when I saw PAOK’s excitement and the recognition they showed me, it was an easy choice for me.”
Despite the separation, Osman retains fond memories of his two years with Panathinaikos: “I had two truly incredible years at Panathinaikos. I have so many great memories. They welcomed and accepted me in the best possible way. When I went there, I didn’t know what to expect. Ergin was there, along with Cenk, and they had just won the EuroLeague. That’s why they were so loved. But I was going there and I didn’t know what to expect. Even though I struggled quite a bit during the first four or five months and ran into a wall with European basketball, they never stopped supporting me. They always believed in me. Both the fans and the club. After that, everything started to get better for me. Once I got used to European basketball, I started playing my own game and eventually became one of the most loved people there. I had two really beautiful years. I built a very strong bond with the fans, the staff, the president and Mr. Giannakopoulos. The relationship was truly excellent. I want to thank them for that.”
Osman also clarified the interest he received from Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce: “Before PAOK, there were other clubs interested in me as well. As you know, I also spoke with Efes and Fenerbahce. However, those processes took a somewhat different turn. Rumors circulated, such as that I didn’t want to return to Turkey or that I wouldn’t go to another team because I didn’t want to upset a particular team… The interesting thing is that people believed it, which really surprises me.”
According to Osman, the main issue was the buyout still included in his Panathinaikos contract: “Look, I wasn’t a free agent. I still had one year left on my contract with Panathinaikos. So when these discussions started, Panathinaikos asked for a significant amount for my release (buyout). Of course, for a transfer to happen, the clubs have to agree first. Then, if the transfer is going to happen, it can move forward. In the end, I can’t go to the president and say: ‘Mr. President, ask for a lower buyout to make things easier, since I’m going to play for another EuroLeague team’. That’s not possible. If someone really wants me, they have to reach an agreement with my club. It’s not something I can do. If I had been a free agent, things would have been different and I would have had a choice. But because a buyout was required… Most likely, the Turkish clubs did not want to get involved in the transfer precisely because a high fee was being requested.”
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