Australia NewsDjite: I'm Not Splitting |
SOCCEROO Bruce Djite has revealed he told Croatian giants Hajduk Split he wasn't interested after they made a move for his signature last month.
Hajduk were linked with Djite by the Croatian press earlier this European summer and in an exclusive interview with FourFourTwo this week the Australian international confirmed they had approached him, but revealed he told them he wasn't interested.
"There was interest from Hajduk Split, a Croatian club," Djite said, "But I didn't really fancy it to be honest.
"It was only a short thing, it wasn't drawn out or anything like that. But it was basically a week of my manager saying ‘well, this team's interested, we are going to have a talk with them and see what they come up with'.
"But basically I said 'it's not really a step forward, what am I going to go to Croatia for?' "
Djite, who scored six goals in his debut season in Europe with Turkish club Genclerbirligi last campaign, felt the better standard of football on offer in the Super Lig compared to Croatia's HNL Ozujsko was the crucial for him.
He added: "It's a good league of course. Hajduk Split is a massive team and I think so is Dinamo Zagreb, they are two big teams and you can get some really big transfers from those two teams.
"But overall the Turkish league is better and for me the most important thing is to be playing week in, week out in this league.
"Coming up against quality opposition every week is a massive thing for me and I think I'm better suited to getting that here."
The 22-year-old former Adelaide United added he felt this was a crucial point in his career and time to concentrate simply on playing good football.
"Obviously I want to do really well this season, not only to push my claims for the 23-man World Cup squad but also to move onto bigger and better things club football wise," he said.
"It's definitely the most important season for me in my football career."
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