Besiktas Becomes Guti’s Second Club, Completing Departure From Real Madrid

With Guti announcing he will move away from Real Madrid this summer, more attention will turn to captain Raúl, the second talismanic Merengue who is expected to leave the Santiago Bernabeu this summer.

Raúl González, the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, has also been asked to stay away from training by new coach José Mourinho as his future is settled. According to comments out of Germany, that future looks likely to be in Gelsenkirchen.

After 15 years and 542 matches, midfielder Guti is moving on from Real Madrid, it was announced today. The 33-year-old, who confirmed he had an offer from Istanbul club Besiktas, leaves the team he joined as a nine-year-old, making his senior team debut in December 1995.

Guti had one year left on his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu but looked unlikely to figure into new coach José Mourinho’s plans, having been asked to stay away from the beginning of training while he looked for another club. That came on the back of a season where Guti managed to play in 26 league matches despite being excluded from the team for a long, mid-season stretch following reported conflict with then-coach Manuel Pellegrini.