Nuri Sahin: 100 balls and 10 million euro

Meinerzhagen is a town of 22,000 people, located in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Nuri Sahin (1988) grew with his parents and brother, Ufuk. During the harsh winter, while German children dreamed of jump off the ski jump of the town (38-meter ramp), Nuri had eyes only for football. He arrived at his first team, Meinerzhagen RSV 1921, at six years old, a club which currently has 14 teams.

The club president Winfried Hösel, keeps a photo of 1998 when the Real Madrid player was wearing the blue shirt of RSV Meinerzhagen: "We have no trophy room, but in the bar along with several scarfs, flags and medals we look with pride the photo that Nuri Sahin signed to us some years ago", recounts Hösel.

Mr. Maikranz and Nuri Sahin

His first coach was Mr. Maikranz who is still working in the club: "From day one I knew he would play in the best teams! He was always the best in all categories. The pain came when Borussia signed him. We get 100 balls and a lot of jerseys", he recalls. Sahin played from 1994 to 2001 in the RSV Meinerzhagen until he signed for Borussia. Just four years later, the Turkish-German became the youngest player to debut in the Bundesliga with 16 years and 335 days.

Ufuk Sahin (1986) is the older brother of Nuri and plays in the first team of Meinerzhagen: "When we were kids, he was the star of my team, despite being younger than us. I hope the same will happen in the Real Madrid". Real Madrid paid 10 million euros.