Sunday 05 / May / 2024
Muscat: Sixteen-year-old Muscat Football Academy (MFA) graduate Mohammed Tirmas will sign a year-long professional contract with Turkish giants Galatasaray, after impressing them during a recent trial.
The striker will sign the deal and stay in Istanbul for the next year, and should he impress during his time with the team, he could sign a full professional contract at the end of his training period.
“Mohammed was my centre forward last year and the year before that,” said Muscat Football Academy Head Coach Chuck Martini in an exclusive interview with the Times of Oman.
“He is your typical European striker, except that he is Egyptian, and he is a handful for other defenders. He is talented, he is quick, he is strong, he has all the attributes to become a target man, but you must remember that he is not the finished article because he is only at the tender age of 16.”
“He had a trial with Galatasaray so they have taken the plunge with him and they have signed him on an apprenticeship, which means he will live and stay in Turkey under the club’s authority, with a view to sign professionally next year,” he added.
Tirmas is fondly nicknamed “Bala,” after the Egyptian attacker Shikabala, who has played 32 times for his country and in whose footsteps the teenager wants to follow.
“Coach Chuck is obviously the main reason behind our success, and there’s a great deal that I owe him,” said Tirmas.
“I hope all of his players move from success to success. Please say hi to all of the coaches over there.”
His father, Mohammed Tirmas, Sr., was also quick to praise Martini’s efforts.
“Chuck Martini is the one to thank after the Lord for his direction and belief in my son and for putting him on his first steps,” he said.
“It is coach Martini who is to thank for putting Shikabala in the Turkish league. They call him the Brazilian because of his style and skill, and he is definitely like a son of coach Chuck.”
Martini is currently on holiday in London after providing commentary for a local Moroccan broadcaster during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but is keeping an eye on things in Turkey.
“Once I get back, I will have a better picture of what is happening with him but for now, his father and I are keeping in touch, and his father is obviously very happy,” remarked Martini.
“We at MFA gave him a scholarship and his father appreciates the work we have done with him. His older brother also plays for us. He is six-foot-six or six-foot-seven and plays as a goalkeeper, and we are trying to send him abroad as well because he too has the capability to go places, especially with his height.”
Galatasaray
“Mohammed has an eye for the goal and I would imagine he needs the experience of competitive week-in, week-out matches that Galatasaray will provide him,” he said. “He is one of my boys and I wish him all the best, and I would consider him one of my sons.”
Mohammed is the latest player from the MFA to travel to Europe in a bid to set up his footballing career. The Omani trio of Ahmed Al Busaidi, Soheib Al Kharusi, and Mohamed Al Naamani will all be travelling to Italy in the future, with Ahmed joining a summer camp with Juventus, and the other two moving to the Lombardia Uno AC Milan Technical Centre, an academy run by Italian side AC Milan.
In addition, two MFA players of Latino origin, Alejandro Olaya and Diego Batista, will also move to Italy to join a Serie C team for a year.
“I am sad to see quite a few of my players move away from the academy this year, but that is what the Muscat Football Academy is about,” said Martini.
“It’s about providing a launchpad for them to move to bigger and better places and go to the next level, which is professional football. Some of these boys, before they joined the MFA, wouldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams that they would get to play top-flight football.”
