Founded in 1959, the Turkish Super League is ranked 12th in the UEFA league rankings this season.
Every year, 2-3 teams advance to the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. This season, Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor also competed in the Europa League, and Basaksehir and Sivasspor are proud of the ‘spiciness’ of Turkish football in the Conference League.
This is the background that a star player who has been active in the big clubs in Europe’s top 5 leagues and has entered his twilight years as a soccer player often uses the Super League as his last option.
Fenerbahçe, the first member of the Super League, is considered a representative of Turkiye. It shines in second place in this category following Galatasaray (22 times) with 19 league championships, and if cup competitions are included, it has collected 35 trophies alone.
In the meantime, many legends such as Roberto Carlos, Nicola Anelka, Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, and Mesut Ozil have played in yellow Canary uniforms. ‘Korean Monster’ Kim Min-jae (27, Naples) also opened up his European career at Fenerbahce.
In Fenerbahce like this, there is a scary teenager with number 10 on his back, which draws attention. Born in May 2005, Arda Güler (17, Fenerbahçe), called ‘Turkey Lionel Messi’, is the main character.
Spanish media Football España said on the 10th (Korean time), “Guiller is a left-footed midfielder with excellent technique and is one of the wonder kids representing Europe.” He stood out in the league and made his A-match debut last month. There is a high possibility that he will advance to the big league this summer and take the next step. Barcelona, Spain, is a representative big club that is watching Guiller.”
After breaking into Fenerbahçe’s first team last season, Güler had an impressive first year with 3 goals and 3 assists in 12 appearances. Out of 12 games, he showed off his outstanding productivity by harvesting 6 attack points even though he only played 10 games as a substitute and the total playing time was only 286 minutes.
According to Football España, Guillerg’s main position is an attacking midfielder, but he also plays a lot as a central midfielder, and his playing style is more reminiscent of Pedri (20, Barcelona) than Messi. When he plays as a winger, he tends to be an ‘inside cutter’. He is a great prospect with excellent dribbling skills that can easily knock out one or two defenders and his composure in the penalty box.
This season also marked his UEFA Europa League debut. With 1 goal and 1 assist in 6 games, he proved that he is a strong player even in big situations. The contract with Fenerbahce is until the summer of 2025, but the club recently raised the transfer fee to 20 million euros (approximately 28.8 billion won) as several clubs, including Barsa and Napoli, showed interest in Güler.
Since last winter, his name has been going up and down as the main target in Naples, Italy. Napoli is a club that is having a lot of fun by actively collecting talents from countries that are relatively remote compared to European football powerhouses, such as Elif Elmas (23), a central midfielder from North Macedonia, and Kim Min-jae, a Korean centre-back.
Turkish broadcaster Haverturk said in November of last year, “Napoli, which discovered Elmas and Min-jae Kim, is paying attention to Fenerbahce’s young number 10.토토사이트 It is a gem coveted by director Christian Giuntoli.” He boasted of his last name. In the 6th game of the group stage against Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), he scored 1 goal and 1 assist and received praise.”