Nathan Redmond interview: Living through the Türkiye earthquake and looking back at sloping Southampton

“It happened in the wee hours of the morning, so I was sleeping in Istanbul,” says Nathan Redmond, reliving the events of February 6. “We just woke up in the morning and my lady was looking at her phone and said, ‘There was an earthquake.'”

Redmond could not comprehend the scale of the unfolding tragedy.

“We woke up to a lot of messages from the family asking if we were okay and what was going on. We were oblivious to everything, so we spread the news and took a look at what was going on. It was a scary time for everyone. I went into training and didn’t realize the impact until I saw the Turkish players.” You could see in their behavior that this was really dangerous.

“Everyone knows one. There was no escaping it. We could have been in town, and you never know about aftershocks. It’s one of those things that puts football and life into perspective.”

The confirmed death toll from the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria in February is more than 50,000, making it the deadliest natural disaster in the region’s recent history.

It was one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded in Turkey – two seismic events, one with a magnitude of 7.8 at 4 am and the other with a magnitude of 7.7 at 1 pm later that day – hit the southeastern and northwest parts of the country. neighboring Syria. The feeling of sadness is inevitable in both countries.

“There are some things in life that you just can’t avoid,” says Redmond.

Fans of the Istanbul Beşiktaş soccer team threw thousands of stuffed toys into the soccer field during Sunday’s match against Antalyaspor to donate to earthquake-affected children in Turkey and neighboring Syria https://t.co/BxRDKXKGRU pic.twitter.com/iHgpQ3sr7z

– Reuters (@Reuters) February 27, 2023

The 29-year-old England striker ordered a cup of coffee, in Turkish, as he sat with The Athletic near Istanbul, where he has lived for 10 months. Redmond’s one-year deal with Besiktas is about to expire, but playing in the Premier League, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t mean he’s out of sight or out of mind. The challenges of earthquake fallout, living away from home and regaining fitness after a pre-season hiatus taught lessons about the same for Redmond.

“My lady was on vacation with the kids and her mum in Dubai when she agreed to fly here and sign. She had to adjust to leaving for a different country… while on vacation! So that was tough. But everyone is taking it in her stride. The kids love the school they go to.” Here. I have no bad words to say about my time.”

Redmond appears relaxed and at ease. Much happier and more settled than when Athletic last spoke to him in November, he admitted he hadn’t been happy in football “for a long time”. Coming to Turkey, and moving out of his domestic bubble, helped relieve pressures that were on par with the Premier League’s trajectory. Redmond has spent the past six years in a Southampton side largely consumed by the threat of relegation from the First Division.

“I needed a break from playing in the Premier League for a long time, and in English football,” he admits. Istanbul is unique and has two sides. We live in the Asian side of Istanbul and go to the European side, cross the bridge, and you can just see the amazing scenery. There are moments when I feel little bits of gratitude like the view from my house or when I play home games at Vodafone Park, where the fans are right up there with the best in the world.”

Redmond playing against Trabzonspor in October (Photo: Orange Pictures / BSR Agency / Getty Images)

Remarkably, despite a continuous 14-match unbeaten streak including 12 wins, Beşiktaş sits third in the league for the match to come. It’s not entirely satisfying, but their form means they’ll go out of the season with optimism. In some ways, Redmond’s improvement mirrors that of his team.

“The first part of the season was about adaptation,” says Redmond, who didn’t join until Besiktas had played five matches. “It was a slow start. I didn’t start many games because I hadn’t trained in the last 10 days at Southampton. I was training alone, with Jack Stephens, because our future was decided (Stevens soon left to spend the rest of the season on loan at Bournemouth). We didn’t train properly. Right, we didn’t have any real game time and we didn’t train with the team.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the latter part of the season because I felt more relaxed and fit after the World Cup. My performance is starting to pick up, I’m getting more goals and I’ve been able to get assists.”

Redmond scored four goals and gave three assists in five matches over the course of March and April, including, in particular, a notable individual display away from Besiktas’ greatest rivals, Fenerbahçe. Playing as a first-half substitute, he set up three goals and scored the other, a stunning solo effort, in a 4–2 win as a red card meant Besiktas were down to 10 men in the final 40 minutes.

Nathan Redmond provided 3 assists and scored this amazing goal in the Fenerbahçe-Beşiktaş derby this weekend. 🚀🇹🇷🏴

pic.twitter.com/115QdckHw4

– Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) April 3, 2023

“It was just about getting back to enjoying football again,” Redmond explains. “Not that I didn’t enjoy my time at Southampton, because I enjoyed every minute, good or bad. Not that the pressure was intense, but coming here was a breath of fresh air. We are one of the best teams in the league, as we are capable On getting a lot of the ball.”

It is fair to say that owning the ball was not always a luxury afforded to him at Southampton. The approach based on high pressure and teams holding on through greater intensity was wearing thin by the time he left Redmond.

Southampton attempted to reshape and add fresh momentum to a clearly deteriorating environment last summer. The team would undergo major surgery, with Redmond being the last of the 12 players out the door. These efforts would ultimately prove unsuccessful as the season of turbulence continued, ending in a relegation to last place.

“There was no feeling that I thought[the drop]was coming,” he says of last summer. But Brucie (James Ward-Prowse) said recently that he knew in pre-season that it was going to be tough. On that, I agree. The only reason I can say what Brucie said was interesting is because, over the years I’ve been there, We’ve always had a very good group of players who know what it means, not just to play in the Premier League but to play for Southampton.”

Employment was supported by a strong focus on youth. Only two of the 10 players who scored in that window were over the age of 25, and only one – Ainsley Maitland-Niles of Arsenal – had played in the Premier League before.

Nathan Redmond with The Athletic’s Adam Leventhal

“I’ve never been shy about getting young players in,” says Redmond. “I was once a younger player, so I know what will happen. I said it in my Instagram post, when saying my goodbyes to the fans, that I hoped young players understood what it was like to be a saint and perform in the Premier League. It’s not about With 19 home games.It’s not about the 19 away games and the single cup game – every day, Monday to Friday, that’s all.

“Game days are almost like you work to give a presentation on Saturday and you were given notice the previous Sunday. You have from Sunday to Friday to prepare something you can present. But these younger players need senior players to help bring them up on the day-to-day stuff and harness their abilities both tactically and mentally. of the game. I feel like they’re lacking in that a little bit.”

Redmond’s continued affection for Southampton is unmistakable and he says he remains “ingrained in the club”. For four minutes, without a break, he spoke eloquently and without a hint of remorse for the club he joined from Norwich City in 2016 and has represented 232 times.

He says: “If you look back in years, all the younger players will tell you how good I am with them giving them a little stick when they need it and getting them into training if they are not necessarily good enough; “That was what Brause or Oriol (Romeo) would do. Those two players were leaders. If it didn’t go well, they would roll up their sleeves and go back to the standard again. But then you need players to hold you back – it was me, Ryan Bertrand and Stephens.”

“I’ll never lie. I wouldn’t say I called it (relegation), but I knew it was going to be a tough season if the right people weren’t brought in. It’s okay to let me, Stevens, Oriole, Longyi (Shane Long) and Fraser Forster, but then, if you look at That knowledge in some games where it can be a little difficult, did they miss that guy in Oriole making a late tackle? Or if the team was in the second half in the 20th minute and made a cynical foul?”

Redmond is not sure what will happen to him next.

He has enjoyed his season in Türkiye and is happy to stay abroad. But where he goes will be determined by two main factors. Firstly, taking into account what suits his young family, and secondly, what suits his career. He already has offers from two Premier League clubs, but Besiktas is also keen on keeping him. If coming to Turkey was a risk that rekindled confidence, performance and pleasure, the next one, after he turned 29 in March, needs to follow a similar path.

Redmond concluded, “I still feel I have a lot to give, whether that’s here or at another club.” “But the good thing for me is that at the end of the season, I have time to sit down and think about what’s going to happen. I’ll be a free agent and can relax a little bit and evaluate the options ahead. I’m in a much better mindset going into this summer than last summer.”

(Best images: Getty Images & The Athletic)

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