Image: Mark Avellino
Richmond have confirmed their final signing of the summer with the addition of attacker Rudi Saglam, who moves to Kevin Bartlett Reserve from the North Geelong Warriors.
The 25-year-old joins the 2015 NPL2 Champions having spent the past 18 months of his career at Elcho Park, helping the Warriors gain promotion back to the top flight.
The son of respected Victorian football figure and current Richmond technical manager Savas Saglam, Rudi played his junior football with Meadow Park, Fawkner and the Essendon Royals.
He gained a VIS scholarship in his mid-teens and featured at the institute under Mehmet Durakovic and Ian Greener alongside the likes of Matthew Spiranovic, Apostolos Giannou and Bailey Wright.
The talented teenager made the move to Heidelberg United and was handed his senior debut by George Katsakis during the 2009 VPL campaign.
The dynamic forward then enjoyed his most fruitful season in front of goal by netting 12 times over the course of the 2010 State League One season as his Fawkner Blues team narrowly missed out on promotion to the top tier after finishing third behind the St Albans Saints and Springvale White Eagles.
A spell back in the top-flight with the Melbourne Knights followed, with Saglam also enjoying trials with A-League outfit the North Queensland Fury and Turkish Super League side Genclerbirligi.
Injury heartache curtailed Saglam’s career progression in the following few years with the attacker being part of the Goulburn Valley Suns inaugural senior squad in 2014.
A European deal followed with the forward joining Turkish third tier side Sakaryaspor, the childhood club of famed Turkish striker Hakan Sukur.
Saglam returned home to Melbourne and promptly joined North Geelong in the mid-season transfer window of 2015 but was unable to help the Warriors escape relegation back to NPL2.
However the diminutive forward returned to his best form last year and was one of the Warriors standout players in the first half of the campaign.
An injury sustained in a game against Dandenong Thunder threatened to derail his season although Saglam returned in time to play his part as the Warriors defeated his new employers 4-0 to secure their return to the NPL after a one-year absence.
He departs Lara having scored four times in 34 league games and was well regarded by supporters and club officials of the 1992 VPL Champions.
Saglam enjoyed his first hitout for Paul Donnelly’s men by featuring in their goalless draw against 2016 NPL Champions South Melbourne on Friday evening at Lakeside Stadium.
He joins Savas Ozdemir, Andrew Viola, Halil Gur, Ryan Lambert, Marcus Dimanche, Rob Taylor, Hakeem Aloraibi, Gonzalo Freddi, Baki Efe, Dillon Maikousis, Brandon Osipov and Swede Herman Sillerstrom as new arrivals for Paul Donnelly’s men who kick-off their season next Saturday afternoon with an away trip to Bundoora to take on Melbourne City Youth.