It has long been impossible for Tuncay Sanli to stride out through the streets of Istanbul and, now, traversing Teesside is proving almost equally time consuming for Middlesbrough's Turkey forward. "In Istanbul I have to stop every few steps and talk to people and, recently, walking here has started becoming just as slow for me. Everyone wants to speak and take my photograph on their mobile phones but the difference is that English football supporters are a bit quieter than Turkish fans," said Tuncay yesterday as he prepared for tomorrow's FA Cup quarter-final against Cardiff City at The Riverside.
He took a few weeks to win them over but Boro regulars have come to see why the 26-year-old was dubbed 'The King of Fenerbahce' by followers of his former club. Gareth Southgate, Boro's manager, says he has never previously encountered a forward as "different" as Tuncay and the Turk certainly possesses a varied armoury, encompassing dribbling ability, improvisational trickery, stellar finishing and a penchant for much high-energy pressing of defenders.
Capable of operating on both wings, in midfield and as either a deep-lying or orthodox striker, Tuncay has a game that exudes personality, making him extremely difficult for opponents - and, sometimes, team-mates - to second guess. "I don't know my best position," he admitted. "But a big reason why I came to Middlesbrough was that Gareth Southgate wanted me to keep playing with a lot of freedom."
Ever since, four years ago, Tuncay became the first Turkish player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League - his memorable treble arrived in Fenerbahce's 3-0 win against Manchester United - he has been firmly on the Premier League radar. Indeed the only slight surprise was that he ended up at one of its less fashionable outposts. "I chose Middlesbrough for the most important reason, because Gareth Southgate was the manager who wanted me most," he said. "I like him very much, he always wants to win but, when we lose, he stands by us."
Even so, living alone in a quiet village near Boro's training ground must have come as a culture shock to this poised and charming metropolitan whose poster boy looks guarantee him adulation in Istanbul's most glamorous circles.
"I've got no problems with the food or the weather but it hasn't been easy, the culture is quite different," he conceded. "But I'm getting over that and getting used to things here now. I don't go out much but I visit Newcastle sometimes and I've been to London a couple of times; I like London, the traffic there is as bad as in Istanbul."
It helps that he regularly socialises with a fellow Turkish expatriate in Newcastle's Emre and also enjoys telephone chats with another compatriot, Blackburn's Tugay. They reassured him that he would adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.
"Although Gareth Southgate always wants us to play good football, the game here is very physical and teams try to get the ball forward quickly," acknowledged Tuncay whose English is improving so fast he should soon be able to undertake interviews without an interpreter. "But I'd always wanted to come to England and adjusting wasn't so difficult."
He has certainly coped with the transition far better than those he left behind. "Tuncay has been a great loss; he is a great person," lamented Zico, his former coach at Fenerbahce. "Tuncay was the one giving us soul and hope." As Cardiff could discover to their cost, the man dubbed "Ceser Yürek" or "Brave Heart" in Turkey is fast infusing Boro with the same qualities.