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' Patrick Turcq ' CCFC

Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:07 am

Who is Patrick Turcq? ' Meet the Belgian transfer expert who could sign Cardiff City's next star '


8 OCT 2015


BY GARETH ROGERS



Part of Cardiff City's masterplan appears to be working in collaboration with sister club KV Kortrijk to develop players. We look at the man at the sharp-end of the deals


Patrick Turcq is the sporting director at KV Kortrijk.

As Cardiff City scour the globe to land top talent in conjunction with KV Kortrijk, we look at their recruitment guru, who has a reputation for landing bargain buys.

Patrick Turcq has never played football and admits he knew nothing about it until he worked for KV Kortrijk but after eight years in the game he is now known for being a top negotiator.




He had been CEO at the Belgian club since 2008 but stepped sideways to sporting director, after Ken Choo was made managing director by Vincent Tan earlier this year.



Turcq has a reputation as a recruitment expert, used to signing players on the smallest budget in the Belgian top flight, having overseen their promotion on 2008.


What is his role? :ayatollah:
Choo is the managing director but he's based in Cardiff, so Turcq deals with day-to-day running of the club, including moving players in and out, hiring managers, attracting sponsors, dealing with the stadium and reporting to Vincent Tan.

Last summer Turcq signed Ghanaian Asiedu Attobrah (pictured below) and Senegalese starlet Sidy Sarr on a very tight budget.


He said: “We negotiated for weeks on both transfers, but only the last day was the green light.

"We have no loan players anymore. They have earned too much money. And we also have very little transfer money paid."



Does he always get it right? :ayatollah:
But Turcq's determination to drive a hard bargain landed him with a problem in 2013.

Cameroon international Ernest Nfor allegedly grabbed him by throat and threatened his family after a row over his move to Neftchi Baku.

Cameroon international Ernest Nfor
Turcq went to the police and the player was subsequently sacked.

He later explained: “Nfor proposed a transfer price himself, which was less than half the €250,000 I'd agreed with other clubs.

“It is not common practice for a player to set his own transfer rate.”



Major player :ayatollah:
But as if to underline Turcq's influence at KVK, in June his choice for manager, former Parma and Udinese winger Johan Walem, was appointed and chairman Joseph Allijns backed them both to work well together.


He said: “Almost all recruitments and transfers that Patrick Turcq did, met with considerable success. He informs himself in all areas and estimates good qualities.

“I am convinced that if he applies his talent alongside Johan Walem, it will be a good choice.”



Networking :ayatollah:
They also appear to be benefiting from Tan's empire, as they have a scouting network in the Balkans, where FK Sarajevo are based.

Having landed 21-year-old Croatian Tomislav Kis for £100,000 this summer and 21-year-old Adam Marusic from FK Vozdovac, of Belgrade for a nominal fee last summer, they continue to work closely with Serbian scout Ivica Jarakovic.


After making his biggest purchase of the summer, Turcq said: “We do not pay transfer fees as a habit, but the one for Kis was not that bad.

"The negotiations went relatively smoothly, because he absolutely wanted to come to Kortrijk.

“This was after Stefan Mitrovic (Serbian former Kortrijk defender) said positive things about us.”




Charisma :ayatollah:
As sporting manager, Turcq is not shy of speaking to the media, as he proved last week when he spoke out about his part in Idriss Saadi's move to Cardiff City.


Then he said: “I did both the contract and the transfer talks.

“We know French football well and knew that the profile of the boy is equally suited for the Championship.”



What are his roots? :ayatollah:
His family started a textile company before moving into real estate.

He sold his first apartment at 17 and then left Belgium for Spain, where he sold timeshares.

The entrepreneur then set up in the hospitality industry before going home to Belgium and starting a construction firm.

His cousin Luc Devroe, was also in the business, but is now sporting manager at rivals KV Oostende, after spells at several Belgian clubs.


Luc Devroe is sporting director at Oostende

The key difference between the two, according to Luc, is he played football but Patrick never did.

Patrick said in 2008: "Before I came on the board of Kortrijk, I knew absolutely nothing about football.

"It is convenient that I can ask Luc for things. I know he won't try to trick me.

“I think the football world is harder than the construction environment. But that's maybe because I'm new to it.

“Football players are more difficult to buy than a ton of architectural concrete, since you know the basic price.”

Turcq fell victim of his cousin's skills of negotiation in the summer though when manager Yves Vanderhaeghe left Kortrijk for Oostende.

But he did get his way with replacement Johan Walem, who had forged a reputation for developing young talent working with the Belgium U21 team.

Re: ' Patrick Turcq ' CCFC

Thu Oct 08, 2015 4:22 pm

This structure looks very promising. :ayatollah: