Four passionate welcomes new signings received from Turkish football fans, including Loris Karius, Darius Vassell and Didier Drogba

Loris Karius called the reception he received from Beskitas fans ‘overwhelming.’

The goalkeeper was making his way through the airport in Turkey to complete his two-year loan from Liverpool, but it took him a while as he had to navigate his way past thousands of screaming fans.

Proud to be part of the famous @besiktas family now. Your welcome at the airport yesterday was simply overwhelming! I will give it my all to win with Beşiktaş.

A big Thank You goes out to all of the Liverpool fans for the support until now – you indeed never let me walk alone. pic.twitter.com/Pw1eqrhFuv

— Loris Karius (@LorisKarius) August 26, 2018

A massive crowd of Besiktas fans showed up to welcome Karius at the airport. pic.twitter.com/dxxSaTuSkB

— Liverpool Family (@lfc_family) August 25, 2018

It’s something not uncommon in Turkey and here are four of talkSPORT.com’s favourite examples, beginning with Darius Vassell.

DARIUS VASSELL AT ANKARAGUCU

Opinions of Darius Vassell will vary, but even the man himself must have been surprised by the reception he was given upon transferring to Turkey. Fans of Turkish side Ankaragucu treated the striker to a hero’s welcome when he first touched down in 2009, as if he was one of the game’s greats.

KENNY MILLER AT BURSASPOR

Not to be outdone by Vassell, Kenny Miller was treated like a god when he started out his own journey through Turkish football in 2011 when he signed for Bursaspor.

DIDIER DROGBA AT GALATASARAY

Having scored eight goals in 11 games for Shanghai Shenhua, Drogba joined Galatasaray in 2013 and looked like he was doing his best to pretend that fans turning up at the airport in their thousands and lighting flares to say hello happened all the time to him.

ROBIN VAN PERSIE AT FENERBAHCE

Van Persie looked impressed by what he saw when he joined Fenerbahce from Man United in 2015. “I promise you one thing: I will do everything in my power to help Fenerbahce win as many trophies to make you happy. Let’s do it together,” he told them.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE GALATASARAY FANS WHO ‘WELCOMED’ MANCHESTER UNITED’S PLAYERS TO ISTANBUL?

Manchester United entered Galatasaray’s cauldron in 1993 during a Champions League clash between the two sides. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson later admitted the club had been “exposed… to as much hostility and harassment as I have ever known on a football expedition.” The message from the Turkish fans to their English opponents? ‘Welcome to Hell,’ which Gary Pallister called “a terrifying business,” in his autobiography, adding it “had nothing to do with sport, and can be categorised objectively as an absolute disgrace.”

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