I-League champions Bengaluru are looking to recruit Turkish forward Umut Bulut for the upcoming season. Bulut, who is currently plying his trade for Turkish giants Galatasaray will add much-needed firepower to the Bengaluru side who have largely depended on their efficient backline to win trophies in the past few years.
The South Indian had Sean Rooney amongst their ranks in the first two seasons of their I-League campaign while last season, they brought in Kim Song-Yong to add to their arsenal. However, the Blues have seen little success when it comes to goalscoring from their marquee foreign forwards. Whilst Sean Rooney managed to score only 14 goals in his two seasons in with Bengaluru, Yong managed to find the back of the net only 5 times in the I-League last season.
With Bulut, Bengaluru will hope to finally hit the bullseye as far as foreign forwards go. Bulut, who has been on Galatasaray’s books since 2012 after a spell with French side Toulouse, has appeared in more than 100 games for the Turkish side has scored 31 goals for the Istanbul side.
However, in recent times, he has been relegated down the pecking order at Istanbul after scoring only 2 goals this calendar year. Thus, coming under huge criticism from the Galatasaray fans.
However, he would bring in a wealth of experience to the Bengaluru side having played in the Champions League in addition to being capped by Turkey 36 times. He has also played for other Turkish giants Ankaragucu and Trabzonspor. With rich CV behind him and still a few years left in the tanks, a bid of around, Bengaluru are supposedly mulling a bid of around €3 million to bring the experienced Turkish striker to Indian shores.
Bulut recently suffered a personal tragedy when his father was amongst the victims in a suicide terrorist attack in Ankara.
Bengaluru have an important clash against Tampines Rovers in the AFC Cup quarter-finals coming up in September as they look to reshape their side under a new coach. Ashley Westwood left Bengaluru at the end of last season after three successful seasons at the helm of Bengaluru. And now the team is set to take a new shape under new coach Albert Rocca.
