‘Spanoulis in the National team was my idea’

Dimitris Itoudis gave an interview to Meridiansport, on the occasion of the match between Fenerbahce and Partizan (9/11, 21:30, Novasports 6 and LIVE from SPORT24) in Belgrade for the 7th matchday of the EuroLeague. The experienced Greek coach mentioned, among other things, his successor on the bench of the Greek national team, stressing that it was his idea to give the reins to Vassilis Spanoulis.

“I spoke to him. Very good move. It was my idea. I hope that we will all come together, that there will be as few problems as possible and that as many players as possible will be available.

Ever since he was a player, Vassilis has been thinking about coaching. The same applies to Sarunas Jasikevicius. It was clear. Diamantidis never wanted that, but these two certainly did“, he said on the matter.

At the same time, a large part of the conversation was also dedicated to Yam Madar and the noise caused by his transfer from Partizan to Fenerbahce in the summer, as a result of which the Serbian club ended its cooperation with Misko Raznatovic.

“He was a free agent. I spoke to Zeliko when we were offered a player who was definitely interested in signing with us. I was the first to say that we don’t care if he is bound by a contract. I was convinced that he had a contract. That’s why he turned to Zeliko and I asked him what’s going on.legal matters are none of my business.

I told Madar this summer that he is leaving a very successful team and manager and will have strong competition here in his place. He said ‘I don’t care, whoever is there is welcome, and I will prove that I matter’. That says a lot about his character.”