Although the native Bavarian was one of the top talents in the youth sector, Kenan Yildiz never played for a DFB youth team. Did the German association miss a national player?
His talent revealed itself early. When Kenan Yildiz started playing football in his hometown of Regensburg at the age of six, he didn’t stay there long. Sallern Regensburg was his first club, and a few months later he joined Jahn Regensburg. He didn’t stay there long either, because none other than FC Bayern became aware of the offensive talent. In 2012, at the age of seven, Yildiz moved to the record champions.
He played there until the summer of last year. Then, after ten years, his time on the Isar unexpectedly ended. But not because the Munich team didn’t believe he could make the jump to the professionals. On the contrary. Yildiz was sometimes captain of his teams, was one of the top performers and influenced the game, mostly in the tenth position.
Bayern did not want to meet Yildiz’s salary demands
The Munich team would have liked to keep him and introduce him to the first team. But no agreement was reached on a contract extension. The then sports director Hasan Salihamidžić said when he said goodbye to “Bild” in 2022: “Yildiz is a young, talented player who we would have liked to continue to support on his path. However, we could not and did not want to meet his financial demands. That is why Yildiz will unfortunately be leaving us. “
Yildiz himself recently put it this way in an interview with “Sport Bild”: “They really wanted to keep me, but it was time to move away from Munich, the best option was to move to Turin.”
FC Bayern lost a great talent. But the German record champions were not alone.
Because Yildiz will not play in the DFB jersey either. Despite strong performances for Munich, the teenager from Regensburg never played for a DFB team. Why? Yildiz, whose father is Turkish and whose mother is German, said: “Germany never approached me, never contacted me. So there was no choice, the question did not arise. I am very happy to play for Turkey.” He has been playing for Turkey since the U17. Under the new national coach Vincenzo Montella (replacing Stefan Kuntz), Yildiz even celebrated his debut in the senior national team against Croatia in October.
Juventus directly extends the contract
That was the reward for his performance at Juventus Turin. With the Italian record champions, Yildiz initially recommended himself for higher tasks in the U19 and in the second team, which competes in the third-class Serie C – and in the long term. While he initially received a contract until 2025, this was extended to 2027 a few months ago.
After just one year, the “Old Lady” was completely convinced of Yildiz’s qualities. Above all, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri. This helped him make his professional debut on matchday 1 of the current season. Since then, there have been four more short appearances with the first team.
Allegri’s verdict: “He will become a great player.” Yildiz, 1.85 meters tall, is two-footed and can be used in several positions on offense. He has brilliant technique and is a goal threat, both as a provider and as a finisher. In his last season with Bayern, he scored four goals in seven games in the U17 Bundesliga and prepared five more goals. In his first season in Juve’s U19 there were eleven goals and seven assists in 29 games.
2023-11-14 13:51:07
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