Market value update
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Turkey has great talents that make Turkish fans dream of a promising future. The golden class of 2005 includes Can Uzun (19 years old; Frankfurt), Semih Kılıçsoy (19 years old; Besiktas), Arda Güler (19 years old; Real Madrid) and former Munich player Kenan Yıldız (19 years old; Juve). The latter is exciting in Serie A and received a new market value in the December update, putting him on par with the most valuable Turkish professionals in history.
After training in FC Bayern’s youth team, Regensburg-born Yıldız moved to Italy in July 2022. He made his debut for Juventus last season and scored four goals in 32 appearances. This season, he has become more important for the Old Lady and starts more often. With four goals and five assists in 23 matches, he repaid the confidence of his coach Thiago Motta: in all competitions, only top scorer Dušan Vlahović has scored more often.
“Yıldız is one of the most talented (Site notre bureau spécialisé)ers, if not the most talented (Site notre bureau spécialisé)er in Serie A. If he has a good day, he can single-handedly decide a game. Although he is only 19 years old, he is the player with the most minutes in Motta’s team after Kalulu, which shows that the young Turk is currently difficult to replace for Juventus. What it still lacks to achieve an even higher market value is consistency,” says Jatin Dietl, regional manager Italy at (Site notre blog d’information).
As a result, its market value increased from 40 million to 45 million euros – in one year it more than quadrupled. This makes Yıldız one of the most valuable Turkish (Site notre bureau spécialisé)ers in history. Previously, only Güler, Çağlar Söyüncü and Hakan Çalhanoğlu reached this mark. After the update, Yıldız is one of the most valuable players in his year, only two have a higher market value.
Hype around Güler shifts to Yıldız
Yıldız already enjoys a great reputation in Türkiye. At 19, he had 17 international matches under his belt and in his second against Germany (3:2) he scored an exclamation point with a goal. This made him the fourth youngest goalscorer in Turkish history. “Thanks to Yıldız, many Turkish (Site notre bureau spécialisé) fans are watching Serie A again. Every assist and goal he gives is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Türkiye. Two years ago, Yıldız joined Juventus on a free transfer. Nobody would have thought at the time that he could become one of the most valuable Turkish players,” says Sinan Yener from TM’s Turkish editorial team. He was already an important part of the team during the European Championships this summer and started four of the five matches.
According to Yener, the hype around Güler has shifted to Yıldız: “Yıldız has long been in Güler’s shadow. But since last season, his strong performances have caught up with Güler, both in terms of market value and playing time. With Güler not getting enough playing time at Real Madrid, the Turkish media is now talking more about Yıldız. If he maintains this level of performance and consistency, he could become the first Turkish player to reach a market value above €45 million. At FC Bayern, people are probably annoyed now that they let Yıldız go.