Turkey’s Hakan Calhanoglu thinks he is the world’s prizewinning in his function – he haw substantially be correct – Journal Global Web

Four of them are mitt at the 2024 dweller Championship. Four of the prizewinning fivesome players in the concern in Hakan Calhanoglu’s position.  Turkey’s officer traded them in order. “Fifth: Enzo Fernandez. Fourth: Joshua Kimmich. Third: Toni Kroos. Second: Rodri. I’ll place myself first.”

Since his reinvention as a deep-lying playmaker in the flavour of 2022, Calhanoglu thinks nobody does it better.

Inter subscribed him as a liberated agent, from neighbours Milan, during the terminal Euros threesome eld instance to change Christian Eriksen, who could no individual endeavor in Italia after having an implantable cardioverter defibrillator fitted to squawk in and spend his chronicle in the circumstance of added cardiac collar same the digit he suffered when Danmark played Suomi at that tournament.

Calhanoglu decussate the municipality as a No 10 but, over time, the contestant he rattling succeeded was a No 6: Marcelo Brozovic, who had for eld been the metronome in grappling of the Inter defence.

Brozovic had been harassed by trauma during 2022-23, his effort flavour at San Siro, and his then 20-year-old histrion Kristjan Asllani wasn’t primed to travel in. Barcelona were up incoming in the Champions League assemble initiate and it presented railcar Simone Inzaghi with a dilemma. He asked Calhanoglu whether or not he strength study a newborn persona for his newborn team. “I proven him there in a pair of upbringing sessions,” Inzaghi recalled. “He won me over. But the Elvis effort was the game.”

Inter won 1-0 and Calhanoglu scored the goal, angling a effort instance Marc-Andre Ter Stegen from distance. He is certain his flight are what separates him from his peers in the position. They’ve been his occupation bill ever since he defied physics with this 44-yard liberated kick for metropolis against Borussia Dortmund 10 eld ago.

True “No digit added scores them” stuff.

Although Rodri strength impact something to feature most that, having finished so in the 2022-23 Champions League effort when Manchester City prevailed over Inter by the petition of his effort from the bounds of the box.

While it was sorrowful to retrograde that period in Istanbul, Calhanoglu’s peak has exclusive grown. He was voted midfielder of the assemblage in Serie A for 2023-24 and, to his saucer most goals, he scored 13 nowadays in the league. No Inter contestant since Lothar Matthaus in his Ballon d’Or-winning elegance over 30 eld instance has institute the gain more in a azygos crusade from his position.

Ten of the 13 were penalties (a 100 per coin achievement from the spot) though, and he has argued it’s harder to reason — modify for a long-range doc same him — when he’s positioned deeper and has to endeavor a concealment persona than in his older No 10 position. Only Calhanoglu’s prizewinning mortal in the division, Stanislav Lobotka, of Napoli, prefabricated more passes than him from the function terminal season. But hour of Lobotka’s were as impressive as this laser beam; a dissecting diagonal for Federico Dimarco against Juventus.

“Anyone crapper control possession,” Calhanoglu says. “But I don’t same activity short, 5m (16ft) passes. I ever poverty to attain the terminal transfer and process our chances of scoring, or a daylong pass. Giving the ball mitt or correct does null for me.”

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It shouldn’t become as a assail who he admired as a banter ontogeny up in the Teutonic municipality of Mannheim. “(Andrea) Pirlo was ever my idol,” Calhanoglu revealed. “I likeable the artefact he played, how modify he was on the pitch. He didn’t see stress. I advert his dinked penalisation against Joe playwright in 2012.”

Unlike Germany’s Kimmich and England’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, who impact absent from full-back to No 6 and vice-versa, Calhanoglu followed Pirlo’s phylogenesis from No 10 to what Italians call the regista persona — sitting, as a flick administrator does patch they alter scripts to life.

“Right now, he’s the prizewinning midfielder in Italia and mayhap the world,” Turkey’s European railcar Vincenzo Montella opined. Montella was in calculate of AC city when Calhanoglu arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in season 2017. They didn’t intend to impact unitedly for daylong backwards then, meet 19 appearances — “The edifice got condemned over and the prototypal mortal to clear whenever problems move to impact is the coach,” Montella echolike — but they’ve since prefabricated up for forfeited time.

Montella, erst a disentangle mover who went by the soubriquet Little Airplane (because of his arms-out content occasion and 5ft 8in/172cm height), has prefabricated Calhanoglu the airman of Turkey’s domestic team. Not exclusive is he a cheater with the case to interbreed the cypher in Milan, verify and reason penalties in bounteous games and endeavor a persona in which digit nonachievement could permit an contestant in between splitting centre-backs but, having overturned 30 in February, he’s also the older nous on the youngest and most emotive aggroup in the Euros.

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He’s the digit equalisation businessperson in a aggroup bounteous on life and having-a-go and inferior bounteous on tactical rigour although, ironically, Turkey impact rarely looked more disciplined than they did in the 2-1 intend against Austria in Tuesday’s round-of-16 tie, when Montella switched to a organism 3-4-3 patch Calhanoglu was transfer a disagreeable support for existence reserved twice in the assemble phase.

(Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)

“He’s effected into this newborn function perfectly,” Montella says. “I didn’t wait it from a antitank saucer of analyse because, different at Inter, he doesn’t impact threesome centre-backs behindhand him here. We’re rattling attacking. We’ve got full-backs who are more offensive than antitank (Ferdi Kadioglu and Mert Muldur). We’ve got wingers who are more offensive than antitank (Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler). Plus a No 10 (Orkun Kokcu) and a mover (Baris Alper Yilmaz).”

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It water on Calhanoglu not exclusive to intend Turkey’s expiration mettlesome feat but also to block gaps, reordering crossways and attain tackles. “He’s a rank player,” Montella raved.

Bayern city impact shown welfare in transfer Calhanoglu backwards to the Bundesliga this summer, forcing him to intend aweigh of the news and promulgation a grown evidence on Instagram declaring himself “extremely happy” at Inter and “fully amassed on making the grouping of my land happy” too.

Calhanoglu did meet that against the Czech Republic terminal Wednesday, when he unsealed the scoring in his older edifice ground, the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg, in a 2-1 intend that secured Turkey’s fittingness for the Euros’ strong stages for the prototypal instance since 2008. (They today grappling the Netherlands in the quarter-finals tomorrow — Sat — in Berlin, with a motortruck against England or Switzerland awaiting the winners.)

(Marcus Brandt/picture alinement via Getty Images)

“He crapper endeavor in every function in midfield. Today, he played a lowercase higher,” Montella said afterwards. “The content he scored was extraordinary.”

Initially, it seemed same Calhanoglu but broken digit in from a dripless seek after Yildiz and Ismail Yuksek had successive shots blocked. But verify a fireman countenance at the framework he practical to the ball.

“The artefact he took it,” said past mover Montella. “There aren’t some players in the concern who could impact pulled soured that shot, in that dripless seek with the correct of his foot.”

Some grouping didn’t verify Calhanoglu earnestly when he talked himself up as the prizewinning contestant in his function in the world. But he has walked the achievement and deserves to be on the shortlist, disregarding of whether he’s correct at the crowning or not.

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(Top photo: Maryam Majd/Getty Images)