Dortmund's Sahin leaves for Real Madrid

New Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund called for a press conference along with Nuri Sahin yesterday and one of German footballs worst kept secrets became public. The German-born Turkish international Sahin is leaving the west German club to join Spanish giants Real Madrid for a fee of 10 Million Euros.

The Luedenscheid born son of Turkish immigrants started playing football at local club RSV Meinerzhagen before joining Borussia Dortmund in 2001. He was the youngest ever Bundesliga player in August 2005 at the age of 16 years and 335 days, but thereafter it wasn't always easy as Sahin was send on loan to Feyenoord Rotterdam in the 2007/08 season.

But this last season under influential coach Juergen Klopp Sahin grew to be one of the most influential players in the champion side, marshalling the midfield which drew attention from Europe's top clubs. Sahin is leaving before the end of his contract in 2013 due to a clause which allows him to leave for a certain fee. And for the 22 year old the transfer to Real Madrid is a dream move.

At the press conference Sahin said, "I am very proud of this step. The decision was hard to take. I am Borussia and will remain Borussia. I will miss Dortmund."

"I will miss the Bundesliga and my home country and I would like to thank everybody who has helped me along my way," he added.

"Saying goodbye to my team-mates was very, very difficult. They are all so close to my heart and it was a very emotional goodbye. Everybody did everything for each other in this team and this is a fantastic team which has won a fantastic title."

As a mark of thanks Sahin has invited his soon former team mates to visit him and his new team Real Madrid for the next El Clasico against FC Barcelona.

Real Madrid said on their website about Sahin that he "has a knack for distributing the ball as well as recovering it. With a powerful left foot and an eye for ball placement, he is also a master at free-kicks."

It will be interesting to see if Sahin can adopt to live in Madrid. The same scepticism was there when Mesut Oezil left the Bundesliga to join the Spaniards, but it has been a big successful story so far.