Homecoming! Arda Turan set to take charge of Turkey after Montella exit
Turkey have apparently wasted no time in finding Vincenzo Montella's replacement. According to transfer insider Nicolò Schira, Arda Turan is set to become the new head coach of the Turkish national team just hours after the Italian's dismissal was made official.
Details: Turan, 39, is one of the most beloved figures in Turkish football history: a product of Galatasaray, he won the Spanish league title with both Atlético Madrid and Barcelona and earned 100 caps for his country before retiring in 2022. He moved straight into management, taking Eyüpspor from the second tier to a sixth-place Süper Lig finish, and has been in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk since May 2025, where in his first season he delivered the Ukrainian league title and reached the Conference League semi-finals, losing to eventual winners Crystal Palace. His Shakhtar contract runs until the summer of 2027. Because Turan may be reluctant to leave Donetsk permanently, the Turkish federation is reportedly prepared to offer him a dual role as both club and national team coach. Turkey's next fixtures come in November, with the team bottom of Nations League Group A1 after four straight defeats and facing Belgium and France.
The appointment would represent a bold statement by federation president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu. Turan is regarded as the country's greatest coaching talent of the new generation, but he also carries a controversial past: his international career ended acrimoniously in 2017 after a confrontation with a journalist, and his playing days were punctuated by disciplinary incidents, including a 16-match ban, later reduced to ten, for pushing an assistant referee. Yet his coaching record speaks loudly, particularly the title in Ukraine achieved under the extraordinary constraints of the war, with the team playing home matches in Lviv and Kraków. His knowledge of the Turkish footballing culture, his stature in the dressing room and his commitment to attacking, high-pressing football make him an obvious fit for a talented national team generation featuring Hakan Calhanoglu, Arda Guler and Kenan Yildiz.
It's worth noting that Turan has only been a head coach for three and a half years, and taking the national team job while keeping his Shakhtar post would be an enormous undertaking: he would be juggling Champions League-level club football with a national team fighting to avoid relegation from the top tier of the Nations League, all while Shakhtar's domestic season runs without a winter break.
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Miguel Solomons
Dailysports's expert
