“Kostas Sloukas Reveals Near Move to Fenerbahçe and Details Departure from Olympiakos”

Kostas Sloukas Makes Striking Statements About His Departure from Olympiakos and Fenerbahçe Confession

Kostas Sloukas, who won the EuroLeague championship with Panathinaikos, made striking statements about his tumultuous departure from Olympiakos.

Fenerbahçe Confession

Speaking to Greek media outlet SDNA, Sloukas revealed that he was very close to joining Fenerbahçe during his departure process from Olympiakos. Sloukas said, “If I decided to leave Olympiakos, I had planned to go to Fenerbahçe. After all, it was an environment I knew, and I had great respect for coach Itoudis. We hadn’t fully agreed, I hadn’t said a definite ‘yes’ to the transfer, but I was very close to doing so. When I realized that Olympiakos didn’t want to keep me, I was really very close to saying yes to Fenerbahçe.”

Conversation with Itoudis

Regarding his phone conversation with former Fenerbahçe head coach Itoudis, the Greek basketball player said: “Those days were very difficult for me. Now I will tell you something I have never shared before. When I decided to go to Panathinaikos, the first person I called was coach Itoudis. I told him, ‘Coach, you have the right to never speak to me again because I had told you that I wanted to come to Fenerbahçe.’ I hadn’t said yes to Fenerbahçe, but I had told coach Itoudis that I wanted to play for him. That’s why I called him and said, ‘Coach, I want to go against Olympiakos for these and those reasons. I’m telling you this first before anyone else finds out.’ He didn’t have anything to say at that moment, but later he said he respected my decision and added, ‘Of course, you have the right to do what you think is best for your family.’ Of course, we didn’t agree on everything during that conversation, but he respected my decision. That’s why I have great respect for coach Itoudis; he is truly a great coach. Honestly, I didn’t expect him to speak to me again, but we still have a very good relationship.”