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The goalkeeper of the Turkish national team and the leader of the German "Bundesliga" championship Gelzenkirchen club, Hamit Altintop, confirmed that he will leave his current team in the summer and will join the ranks of the country's champions, Munich, as a free agent.
The versatile 24-year-old player announced last week that he wants to leave the "Schalke" team after rejecting the new contract offered by the club. Although the Turk did not want to reveal his future new team, he unexpectedly admitted that he will represent the "Bayern" team next season.
"I have decided to accept the three-year contract offer from Bayern," said H. Altintop on Wednesday. "Schalke" allowed me to make this decision quite easily in recent weeks, as I didn't have the opportunity to play in the main team, even though I played well. In the Bayern team, I want to become a leader. This will be the next step in my career, but for now, I want to leave the "Schalke" club with my head held high and having won the gold of the German championship."
Munich club's head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld is pleased that H. Altintop will join their team, as this summer the legionnaire from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hasan Salihamidzic, will join the lineup of Italy's Turin team, "Juventus".
"He (H. Altintop - ed. note) is a team player, durable, and can play both in defense and in attack," said the new Bayern coach O. Hitzfeld, who replaced the dismissed Felix Magath at the end of January.
"I have learned a lot at the 'Schalke' club. There were ups and downs here, which helped me improve," added H. Altintop, who joined the Gelzenkirchen team in 2003 from the third division club "Wattenscheid".
In total, the player has appeared in 101 matches in the Bundesliga championship and scored 8 goals. This season, he played 19 times in the Schalke club's matches, but appeared in the starting lineup only 8 times.
