Ortega? ‘God knows’

A brief recap: Fener made huge headlines by signing Argentina’s captain at great expense last summer. However, this so-called megastar was not popular with the coach at the time, Werner Lorant, who really did not want him in the first place. Aloof and unfriendly, he was not popular with his teammates either. He had expected to be an automatic selection for the first team and sulked whenever Lorant omitted him. When he did play, his ball skills were very apparent but he often looked completely out of tune with those around him.

In February he went off to play for his country in a friendly match in Holland and never returned. He announced that his intention was to rejoin his former club River Plate. As Fener had (and still has) him under contract, this was not legally possible. By this time Fener was perfectly willing to let him go.

All it wanted was the return of the transfer fee it paid River and of an advance on salary which it had made to Ortega. It immediately went into negotiations with River to find an amicable solution but at the same time filed for FIFA arbitration.

The talks with River went on for weeks but finally broke down with no agreement reached and the arbitration went ahead. FIFA ruled that Ortega was in breach of contract (given the facts of the case, it could hardly have ruled any other way) and ordered him to pay Fener $11 million in compensation and return salary already paid to him. It went further and banned him from the game altogether until Dec. 31.

License claims
Except for the matter of Fener extracting payment, that appeared to be the end of the matter. However, last month Ortega’s agent, a Senor Caliendo, came up with the claim that despite its own ruling FIFA was prepared to issue Ortega a temporary playing licence and that he would be signing for River immediately.

This seemed very unlikely at the time and it did not happen. But Caliendo persisted. He made the same claim in almost exactly the same words last week. Again no licence has as yet been forthcoming and Fener is insisting that its own contacts with FIFA make it clear that none will be forthcoming. Fener is almost certainly right about this. There are absolutely no grounds on which the world governing body might set aside its own arbitration decision and issue a licence.

This leaves Ortega in a bind. He has saddled himself with a huge debt and he is unable to pay it because he is not playing. Now come the reports that Fener is willing to allow him to pay back by returning to Istanbul and rejoining the squad. According to these reports it has been in indirect contact with him through Caliendo and Celalettin Bilgic, the businessman who acted as intermediary in the original transfer. Ortega himself is said to be reluctant to return but prepared to consider the idea and will make his final decision tomorrow.

God and Aziz Yildirim
After the way Ortega has behaved, surely no club in its right senses would be prepared to take him back? Not even Fener? Remember, after returning to Argentina, he said that he had disliked Istanbul from the moment he set foot there and had begun plotting his escape right away.

This hardly suggests that he is likely to offer Fener full commitment in the future. At present we have no indication that new coach Christoph Daum wants Ortega. On the other hand, neither do we have any indication that he does not. This is par for the course. Throughout the summer Daum has pursued a tightlipped policy of refusing to talk about any player moves until deals have been done.

There is, though, one straw in the wind suggesting that Fener just might be preparing to welcome back its prodigal son. On Monday, Chairman Aziz Yildirim attended a dinner at the club’s Fenerbahce Burnu social center. Beforehand he paused for a brief chat with journalists.

He was asked directly, "Is your door open to Ortega?" To this, Yildirim replied, "God knows."

This evasive response made headlines because when Yildirim has been asked similar questions in the past, he has always answered with an emphatic denial, saying that Fener would not take Ortega back under any circumstances. So was the evasion a sign, as has been suggested, of a change of heart? Or was it Yildirim’s way of refusing to discuss the issue? Frankly, only he and God know.

Alex
The chairman was similarly unforthcoming when asked whether Fener has signed Brazil midfielder Alex from Cruzeiro. "When there is a signing, everybody will hear about it," he said.

In fact reports from Brazil suggest the deal is done. Vice-chairman Hakan Bilal Kutlualp has been there for the past fortnight negotiating with Alex and with Sao Paulo striker Fabiano Costa. Now it is reported that Alex will be in Turkey in time for Fener’s opening Super League game against Istanbulspor on Sunday. We jaundiced transfer watchers feel a sense of deja vu here.

If you believe everything that has appeared in the press during the past month, Alex has already arrived in Istanbul and signed a contract three times. All we can say for certain is that Kutlualp must be doing something in Brazil other than sunning himself on the beach. In the case of Fabiano, we are told that Sao Paulo is holding out for a $10 million transfer fee which Fener is unwilling to pay and that, in any case, it will withdraw its interest in the forward if Ortega decides to come back.

Who knows? Go ask Aziz Yildirim!