By Can Erozden
ANKARA (AA) - Turkish football club Galatasaray on Thursday appointed their ex-player Okan Buruk for the head coach position, which has been vacant after Domenec Torrent was sacked this week.
The Lions welcomed Buruk on Twitter with a video showing his Galatasaray days, and the Istanbul side also revealed on the Public Disclosure Platform (KAP) that the 48-year-old has sealed a two-year contract - including an option for a year - until the end of the 2023-24 football season.
The club added that Buruk will have 17 million Turkish liras or nearly $980,000 for the 2022-23 season, and if the club carried on with Buruk for the 2023-24 season, Galatasaray would pay 20 million Turkish liras ($1.1 million) for him.
Buruk was a pure Galatasaray product, playing for the Istanbul club's youth teams and senior team.
He was one of the main pillars of Galatasaray when the team won the 2000 UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in the same year.
As a Galatasaray midfielder, Buruk won seven Turkish Super Lig championships, five Turkish Cups, and a Turkish Super Cup as well.
In addition to Galatasaray, he played for Italy's Inter Milan, Türkiye's Besiktas, and Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor, which was renamed Istanbul Basaksehir in 2014.
He retired in 2010.
Buruk was one of the Türkiye regulars as he piled up 54 international caps for his nation.
Then he coached several Turkish clubs such as Elazigspor, Gaziantepspor, Sivasspor, Goztepe, Akhisar Belediyespor, Caykur Rizespor and Medipol Basaksehir.
Buruk guided Basaksehir to the Istanbul club's first and only Turkish title in 2020.
Before the sensational success at Basaksehir, Buruk won the 2018 Turkish Cup with underdogs Akhisar Belediyespor - now called Akhisarspor.