Jose Mourinho hopes Nuri Sahin does not play for Turkey in next month's Euro 2012 play-off matches against Croatia.
Real boss hoping Turkey international is not selected to play
Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho hopes Nuri Sahin does not play for Turkey in next month's Euro 2012 play-off matches against Croatia.
The 23-year-old signed in the summer from Borussia Dortmund and has yet to play for the Spanish giants as he has only recently been declared fit to return to full training after a serious knee injury.
Sahin has not played a competitive game of football since April and Mourinho believes his country's play-off games come too soon for him to contemplate a return.
Risk
"If he suddenly had to play 90 minutes then that would be a risk, but normally national teams do not worry too much about risking players," said Mourinho.
"It is the clubs that have to find the solution to these problems. Now the player isn't injured, that's obvious. We will not lie.
"He is training without any problems medically and we've not hidden or lied about that, but an injury he suffered while at Borussia Dortmund means he's not played a single minute since April.
"From then until November is an eternity."
Precaution
Mourinho wants to take every precaution to ensure that Sahin can return to playing slowly and will be the one who decides when he makes his comeback.
"I didn't ask if he was ready to play in San Sebastian [against Real Sociedad] because I knew what he would say," he continued. "I wanted him to, but he could not.
"We have to stay calm with a players has another ten good years of football in front of him.
"We are not going to do anything that could risk that. We are going to give him time to find his confidence because he is a very important player for us.
"He appears to me to be a player that you have to be careful with and let him train bit by bit.
"He is physically and mentally in pre-season and needs time. He must focus on training well, improving physically and gaining confidence."
