Need for speed / One day, one transfer / Episode 16 / SOFOOT.com
This summer during the transfer window, So Foot returns every day of the week to a transfer that marked its time in its own way. For this sixteenth chapter, spotlight on the loan of Colin Kazim-Richards (alias Kâzim Kâzim) to Toulouse, in January 2010. The Anglo-Turkish globetrotter only stayed six months in the Pink City. A lightning passage, both on the ground and flying in hand.
And to think that it all started with a game intended for fans… In 2005, Aaron Berry won Win a Player. This surprising contest, sponsored by Coca-Cola – then a partner of the English Championship – allows the winner to benefit the club of his choice from the sum of 250,000 pounds, to be used on the transfer market. As a good supporter of Brighton & Hove Albion, Aaron entrusts the management of this tidy sum to Mark McGhee, the manager of Seagulls. This last jet evolved on a young 19-year-old striker, who has just completed his first professional season with Bury FC, in D4. Son’s name: Colin Kazim-Richards. Thanks to this nudge of fate, the Coca-Cola Kid climb two floors in the hierarchy of English football and gives a first boost to his career. A career placed under the sign of nomadism and experiences in the four corners of the world. From the United Kingdom to Mexico, passing through Turkey, the Netherlands or Brazil, the man better known as Kâzim Kâzim rarely stays in one place for very long. To date, already seventeen clubs appearing on his very long CV. Among them, Toulouse FC.
Epic Euro and “sex marathons”
Before landing in the stronghold of Airbus, this inveterate globetrotter first traces his path in Brighton, then in Sheffield United. Each time, observers detect in him a real ability to make a difference, by his explosiveness and his quality of dribbling. His stats, on the other hand, are only slightly flattering for a centre-forward, capable of playing as a winger as well. A small but in thirty games in all competitions in 2006-2007 is very little. The native of London, however, catches the eye of the imposing Fenerbahçe, which is not insensitive to its Turkish roots (his father comes from Antigua and Barbuda, but his mother is from Northern Cyprus, a territory under Turkish influence since 1974). The transfer is recorded, Colin Kazim-Richards moves to the other end of Europe, calls himself Kâzim Kâzim and quickly shows himself to his advantage with the Sari Kanaryalar. Having become a Turkish international, he even participated in the crazy epic of Euro 2008, under the orders of Fatih Terim. The beautiful story, however, came to a sudden halt at the end of 2009. The reason? In addition to being seen as irresponsible at the wheel (after fracturing his wrist while driving, he quietly reveals to Sky Sports that he does not always wear his seat belt), Kazim is accused by the local press of participating, like several of his teammates, “sex marathon” in Istanbul hotels. Faced with the scandal, Fener has no choice but to place its striker on the list of undesirables. We must take advantage of the winter transfer window to exfiltrate it.
It is therefore in this context that the Turkish international leaves the shores of the Bosphorus to discover those of the Garonne. Fenerbahçe and Toulouse agree to a six-month loan, with option to buy. Stuck in the second half of the table, the TFC is then looking for a reinforcement capable of energizing an attack at half mast and far too dependent on André-Pierre Gignac. “He’s a player who comes with a lot of motivation, who has the qualities to bring to the team in an attacking registerwelcomes Alain Casanova, the coach of the Violets, at the time of the presentation of the interested party to the press. He can play in the axis, on one side. He is lively, powerful and has a big mind. He is also capable of giving a lot of assists. » If he is evasive about the official reasons for his hasty departure from Istanbul – “I took a red card against Beşiktaş, I was suspended for four games. Then I had a car accident, so I didn’t play again.” -, Kâzim Kâzim seems enthusiastic about the idea of taking up the challenge from Haut-Garonne: “Here in Toulouse, it’s a new step in my career, and in my life. Toulouse is a beautiful city, with warm people, a catchy team, I don’t see why I should have any regrets, especially when you are wanted as is the case here. I’m ready. »
Too much acceleration
It is indeed. From his first entry into play, at Le Mans, the number 9 who has never panicked the counters finds the way to the nets (1-3). He will do it again in mid-April, allowing Toulouse to snatch the point from a draw in additional time in Montpellier (1-1). For the rest, we remember above all a whimsical player, capable of dazzling and not afraid to provoke the ball at the foot. However, we cannot ignore a significant technical waste, nor a deficient defensive work. In short, not enough to make a lasting impression. “Frankly, I have nothing passionate to say about Kâzim Kâzim…” blows a framework of the workforce of the time.
A lens in each kit for @ColinKazim #DCFC pic.twitter.com/G1Mn8z0oFw
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) January 4, 2022
The Turk has kept a small extra-sporting trace of his time in the Pink City. On May 7, on the eve of a trip to Saint-Étienne, he was caught in the act of speeding at the wheel of his powerful 4×4 in the main street of Saint-Michel, in the center of Toulouse. As if that were not enough, Kâzim makes a fuss at the time of his arrest and is guilty of acts of rebellion against the police. Seven months later, the criminal court sentenced him to a two-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 3,000 euros, plus damages for the police. But the man with 37 caps with the Ay-Yıldızlılar not here anymore. Téf ‘not having exercised its option to buy, he returned to Turkey, quickly swapping the tunic of Fenerbahçe for that of the hated rival, Galatasaray. More or less long spells followed at Olympiakos, Feyenoord, Celtic, Corinthians or even Pachuca, before returning to England. Now 35, Colin Kazim-Richards recently played for Wayne Rooney’s Derby County, relegated to League One. His contract has just expired. Nothing says, however, that he intends to press the brake pedal.
By Raphael Brosse