Ozdoev: “My thoughts are with PAOK, to make history and enter the Champions League”

He gave an interview to “Sport24.ru” of his hometown Magomed Ozdoev. The PAOK midfielder referred to his bond with the Thessaloniki team but also to his ambition to play with them in the Champions League.

At the same time, the Russian midfielder spoke about his collaboration with Andrea Pirlo to Fatih Karagyumrukabout how he was transferred to PAOKbut also for the possibility of returning to a team from his hometown at some point.

In detail what he said:

On whether he intends to return to Russia: “My thoughts are on PAOK, the club is counting on me. Last season we won the championship and now we want to make history and enter the Champions League group. But, you understand, anything can happen in life.”

On his collaboration with Andrea Pirlo in Fatih Karagümruk: “I went there to work with a certain coach. I was surprised that Andrea Pirlo and I didn’t even finish the league, he left three games before the end. I spoke to him and asked him why he decided not to renew his contract. Before I signed the contract, I said directly to the club management: ‘If the coach leaves, I will leave too’. Pirlo is a very ambitious coach. When you achieve the best result in the history of the club, you want support from the management, good transfers to go even better. It was important for him to move on, but Karagümruk’s pace of development probably didn’t meet his expectations.”

On how he was transferred to PAOK: “We discussed (s.s. with Fatih) the terms of my departure and decided to make some changes to the initial agreements. Of course, it had an impact on the financial side as well, but I’m glad that everything worked out well and I was able to move to PAOK. Before PAOK, by the way, Fenerbahce wanted me. The club people even called Russia and found out about me. But it turned out that Karagümruk raised the demands and Fenerbahce did not want to give so much money. It’s good that I took over most of the negotiations to go to PAOK”.