“It is time that you tell you my story. All the story”. With these words, the letter that Arda Guler, a young promise of Turkish football and star of Real Madrid, wanted to direct to “all the children of my beautiful country” begins. A direct, intimate message that mixes childhood memories and sports ambitions, and which in a few hours has already gone around the social networks, also on the day of the Pope’s election.
In the text, published in The Players’ Tribune, the footballer traces the years of childhood, when he dreamed of a PlayStation and was satisfied with games with friends on the street. “When I was 12 I just wanted one thing: Fifa 17,” he writes. “But his father, making many sacrifices, gave him a console with a strange game, without the ‘Journey’ mode, the one that Arda preferred, and with teams with absurd names.”Instead of Real Madrid there was MD White ‘. I was ashamed, but I played the same“But most of the time had passed in the open air in Ankara.” Although I have only two stones as poles, I am happy “, proudly claiming what he calls” the Turkish mentality “.
A journey between dreams and sacrifices
The guiding thread of the letter is the unconditional love of the family. “Dad lived Fenerbahçe. He said we bleed yellow and blue“, He says.” Once, after a derby, he broke a lamp by jumping from the sofa. Another, he pulled a box for anger and hurt the foot as in a cartoon. “But it is when the young Arda is noticed by his physical education teacher that things change.” They said to my father: ‘This guy must go to the Gençlerbilorliği Academy’. Dad initially refused. It was more than an hour away. But in the end he convinced himself. And to accompany me, he ended up closing our shop. It was the only income we had. ”
When the call of Fenerbahçe arrives at 13 years of age, Arda knows it is a turning point. But there is the fear: “We could not know if I would have made it. Then my father said: ‘If you have to drown, do it in the big sea’. It was Istanbul.” On his birthday, before departure, he receives a symbolic gift: a notebook with the written “Arda 10” on the cover. And a phrase by his sister:“Arda, you have to fill the fridge”. The meaning? “It was a way to tell me: you proudly make the family. Take care of us.”
“Only God and the family count more than football”
The young footballer then tells the fear of his mother’s health. “They called me in August 2022 “I thought he was about to die. The next day I said to the club that I wouldn’t play. I didn’t even want to touch a ball.” But Fenerbahçe supports him: “President Ali Koç did everything to give her the best doctors. The operation went well. E Qualche Settimana Dopo, Dedici Un Goal Con la Scritta: ‘My Mother I Love You very much’. Mamma, Ti Amo Tanto. ”
Özil, Raúl, and the first contact with the dream
Becoming owner at Fenerbahçe at just 15 years old, wearing the number 10 inherited from Mesut Özil, it is no small stuff. “At the beginning I didn’t even dare to talk to him,” he says. “He said to me, ‘Arda, all right?’ And I only replied: ‘Yes. Well’. Then one day he invited me to his room and gave me a playstation. He said to me, ‘Take it’. He was kind. He was like a brother.”
The jump to Real Madrid was even more particular. Above all the meeting with Ancelotti. “It seemed unreal to me that it could happen so quickly. That summer, my father and I often talked if it was not too early to leave. It was a difficult decision, there were many offers. Then, one day, an facetime call comes from Carlo Ancelotti.”
“I will never forget when his number appeared on the screen and the video was still charging … ‘Hello, arda. How are you?’ They will be too old … you’ll be there.
The arrival in Spain seems to have come out of a film. “On the first day, Raúl introduce me. But I didn’t think it was really him. I said: ‘This is not Raúl’. Only when Modrić and Kroos confirmed, I believed it. Everyone laughed. The Turkish boy who does not recognize Raúl …” Then, other surprising details. “I discovered that David Alaba and Toni Rüdiger speak a little Turkish. They grew up with Turkish friends in Vienna and Berlin. Alaba is even fan of Galatasaray. Courtois played with Arda Turran and knows a few words, especially the swear words.”
But cultural integration also passes through respect. “In Turkey, we turn to the elderly with respect. Let’s say ‘ABI’, which means older brother. I could not call Modrić simply ‘Luka’. He could have been my father, you understand? So I told him: ‘Hi Luka ABI’. But Alaba and Rüdiger thought that ‘Abi’ was a title for anyone, even for me. They began to say goodbye saying: ‘good morning, ABI are officially arda, the youngest older brother of the locker room. ”
There is no lack of words of gratitude for Ancelotti. “I know that in Türkiye many would like to see me holder in every game. I too. But I know that I have to be patient. When Ancelotti says I can become one of the best midfielders in the world, VI say that the club has a plan for me“.” Meanwhile, his family continues to visit him once a month. And he always adds: ‘If I were not a footballer, we would be in trouble.’ Luckily the fridge is full.”
I want to open the way to those who come after me “
Today Arda Guler is a global talent, but does not forget his mission. “I don’t want to be the only one. I want there to be others like me. I want every child in Türkiye to know that it is possible, that he must not surrender”. The open letter closes with a memory of the 2023 earthquake, when he still played in Türkiye. “There is a video that makes me shiver. It was recorded when I didn’t play much for Fenerbahçe. Maybe you saw it. Two boys of the rescue teams are with a child just extracted from the rubble. The child is lying down, the body covered and the head outside. The sirens are heard. The child has spent almost five days under the cement blocks, thinking of dying, and he has a message for me. I will never forget.
Arda Güler brother
I want you so much well
Continue to save Fenerbahçe
Abm, please the coach to let you play
And it is from here that Guler starts again to talk to his small compatriots: “If you have a playstation and a dream, take the ball and go out to play. You will feel master of the world.”