Turkish Players Abroad

[GS1905]

On the other hand there are many Turkish rooted footballer playing for other National teams. GS you can write about them too?

Are there any specific players you want to know about? :huh:

I have already written about Houssein Mumin (Greco-Turk), Ilkay Gundoğan (German-Turk). Maybe we should also say a few words about Sporting left-back Atila Turan.

Atila is only 18 years-old and was signed by Sporting Clube de Portugal in July from French club Grenoble. The Portuguese club paid €1.8M for him.

A month later, he was loaned to Beira-Mar of Portuguese LigaZon Sagres, where he has only made one substitute appearance.

There is another guy playing for Werder Bremen's youth team, I think his name is Andac Gunay or something like that, but I couldn't find any detailed information on him.

We also have a set of youngsters playing in Germany who have formed the backbone of the Germany U17 National Team who finished the U17 World Cup in Mexico in third place. Robin Yalcın is playing for Stuttgart U18 currently as a left midfield. Levent Aycicek is playing for Werder Bremen, only made 2 appearances so far this year. Forward Samed Yeşil plays for Leverkusen II, but also features occasionally for the Leverkusen A team. He has scored 25 goals in 23 appearances for Germany U17 team, breaking the total goals record set by Juergen Klinsmann some 30 years ago. Emre Can is on the UEFA Champions League roster of Bayern Munchen, but we cannot expect him to play straight away as he is only 16. All of those players are 16 or 17, and are of Turkish descent. Except for Samed, none of them declared that they have opted to play for Germany yet, so there may be some hope there.

There is Deniz Naki, who plays for St-Pauli as a striker or second striker. He has played 4 games this season, not scoring a goal yet. He is Turkish-German who wants to play in the Turkish NT but he is not the player he was expected to be when he was 17-18. He is only 22, though and things may change.

Another German-Turk striker is Mahir Sağlık. The 29-year old forward has played for many clubs in Germany, including Wolfsburg, Dortmund, Ahlen, Paderborn and Bochum and is now playing for St-Pauli. He has made one substitute appearance so far this season.

There is Guido Kocer, who is of Turkish, German and Bosnian origin, playing for Aue in German Second Division. He's 23 and plays as a winger/striker. He joined Aue earlier this month after his impressive season at SV Babelsberg, where he scored 6 goals in 24 matches. Guido has played twice for Turkish U21 team, scoring once against Ukraine in 2009.

Malik Fathi had a largely successful career at Hertha BSC, Spartak Moskva and Mainz. He still plays for Mainz but is considered as a bit part player. The left-back has 2 caps for Germany.

Serdar Taşcı still plays for VfB Stuttgart. He's made 6 apps for the team this season and scored once. Serdar said "He felt German since childhood, so it was not diffcult for him to pick Germany over Turkey in his selection as the NT." about two-three years ago. He has 13 caps for Germany, most of them as substitute appearances.

Omer Toprak signed for Leverkusen in the summer, after making 68 appearances for Freiburg in three years. Omer overcame a terrible gokart accident, as burns and bruises in his body were severe and life-threatening. His doctor is quoted saying "He can't play football again." But Omer came back five months later and played 11 games last season after suffering from the crash. He's not made his decision on which NT he will play for, while Turkey is hastily after him. Omer is 21 years old and has German mother and a Turkish father.

Taner Yalcın, the elder brother of Robin Yalcın, is now playing for Istanbul Buyukşehir Belediyespor of Turkish Super League, on loan from 1.FC Koln. He is 21 and has opted to play for Turkey, if he is called up.

Zafer Yelen is currently playing for FSV Frankfurt in Germany, after his horrible spell with Trabzonspor ended earlier this summer.

Olcay Şahan, 24-year old defensive midfielder is of German-Turk origin and has played three times for Kaiserslautern this season.

Oğuzhan Ozyakup, a Dutch-Turkish 18 year-old, who plays for Arsenal has actually just made his club debut in the Carling Cup match against Shrewsbury Town FC.

18 year-old German-Turk Burakcan Kunt plays for Duisburg, and made 4 appearances for the side. He plays as a defensive midfielder.

19-year old German-Turk forward Eren Taşkın, 20-year old Bosnian-German-Turk forward Zlatko Muhovic and 22-year old Turkish defender Nurettin Kaya all play for Schalke 04 U23 team.

17-year old Adem Jabiri, of Albanian-Turkish origin, plays for Hoffenheim U23 team.

20-year old Turkish-Dutch winger Araz Ozbiliz has played 16 times for Ajax in 2011.

18-year old Dutch-Turkish attacking midfielder Yener Karaca plays for Ajax Reserves.

Currently, those are the ones I can remember and recollect... I hope it is useful..

[haydar]

I hope it is useful..

Thanks, sure useful...

[GS1905]

Umut Bulut scored his team's winning goal against Nancy in this week's Ligue 1.

Former Trabzonspor striker looked very lively and missed two half-chances before scoring the winner on 67 minutes for Toulouse.