Merih Demiral is one of the young, up and coming defenders that just might light up the footballing stage in the not so distant future.
At just 21 years of age, the Turkish centre-back is currently plying his trade over at Juventus, having arrived there last summer from Sassuolo in a €18m (£15.1m) deal.
Despite his young age, he has already won 12 caps for his national team and has tallied appearances for Alanyaspor and Sporting in the past.
But regardless of his talent, he can only boast a single game for the Bianconeri so far this term as Maurizio Sarri doesn’t seem to have him in his plans just yet.
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But despite Sarri’s consistent snubbing there is still hope for the youngster as Tottenham Hotspur seem to be interested in his services, as per reports coming from Bleacher Report.
The same source stated the youngster is getting annoyed at his lack of game time in Turin and Jose Mourinho could be his saviour.
But who exactly is the young centre-back and what can he offer to Spurs?
To answer those questions, we sought out the opinions of those who know him best…
Sergen Yalcin, Alanyaspor manager
Yalcin definitely knows what he’s talking about as Alanyaspor was Demiral’s home before his move to Sassuolo and eventually Juventus. Granted, he spent a lot of time away from the club on loan but the young defender did tally 20 appearances with one goal to his name for the Turkish giants.
Once his transfer to Sassuolo was announced, Yalcin spoke highly of his club’s former player, as quoted by 90min:
“Merih Demiral will be a Premier League player within 1-2 seasons. The Turkish national team has its new centre-back for the next 10-12 years”
Emre Sarigul, the administrator and co-founder of Turkish-football.com
Sarigul has been following Demiral since the very beginning and as one of the founders of Turkish-football.com, he knows a thing or two about the defender who’s bound to turn into a star in the not so distant future.
In an interview with Juvefc, Sarigul spoke at length about the 21-year-old, comparing him to Giorgio Chiellini and highlighting some of his best traits in the process as well.
Here’s what he said:
“Out of the current Juventus players perhaps Giorgio Chiellini. He is the type of defender the fans love because he is brave and loves to tackle and when attacking players have a beast like Merih lunging at them they think twice about trying to dribble past him. He is very difficult to beat in the air. The kid is fearless but isn’t arrogant. A real warrior who never gives up. He managed to keep the likes of Mbappe, Griezmann and Giroud quiet just last month when Turkey beat World Champions France 2-0 in the 2020 Euro qualifiers.”
Paolo Montero, former Juventus defender
The now 48-year-old former Juventus defender played a total of 277 games for the Bianconeri and he also seems to think Demiral will have a bright future ahead of him.
He said so just last month when he was talking about Matthijs de Ligt and the Turkish centre-back, tipping them both for greatness, mainly because they already have great role-models in Turin to look up to.
He said to Sky Sports Italia, as per the quotes from Sky Sports Italia (via Football Italia):
“He [De Ligt] played a spectacular game. He is demonstrating his value and he will become a world-class player. Demiral will also have a great future and find his place. They’ve got great defenders to learn from, players like [Leonardo] Bonucci and [Giorgio] Chiellini, and that will help them a lot.”
Verdict
Even though he is currently out of favour at Juventus under Sarri’s stern hand, Demiral is still young and seemingly has a bright future to look forward to.
Mourinho would be wise to pounce on the 21-year-old and bring him to Spurs sooner rather than later.