The Tunisian centre-back joined Feyenoord from Club Africain for a fee of one million euros in the summer of 2004, when he was only 21, but already a member of the national side.
Bert van Marwijk had just left for Borussia Dortmund and under Ruud Gullit Saïdi immediately became a first choise player, taking part in 39 games and scoring once.
Change of fortunes
Gullit’s departure however changed everything. Saïdi lost his place during the Erwin Koeman period, spending the second half of the ’05-’06 season on loan at Lecce and the situation hardly improved under caretaker Leo Beenhakker, not to mention since Van Marwijk’s return at the Feyenoord helm.
In total, the Tunisian defender played 60 matches and scored one goal for the Dutch giants and at 24 he was looking for a way out. Süper Lig joint leaders Sivasspor came to the rescue and Saïdi joined them today until June 30, with an option to extend their contract for another two years.
Rising force
Founded in 1967, Sivasspor were promoted to the Süper Lig for the first time in the summer of 2005 and under Bülent Uygun they’re enjoying their best season to date. Even though they’ve been knocked out of the Kupası, they’re stealing the show in the league, as they’ve gone into the winter break joint-top with reigning champions and Süper Kupası holders Fenerbahçe, looking for their first piece of silverware ever.
With the exception of Trabzonspor, no other club besides İstanbul’s Big Three has ever won the league in Turkey.
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