Ahmet Yilmaz Çalik     22     Defender     Gençlerbirligi     Turkey

Skinny

Tough, no nonsense, old school defender. This isn’t a clean shorts Baresi-type, think more a Vidic you-shall- not-pass model. More than capable with the ball at his feet and now a club captain too. Good in a side who finished in the lower half of their domestic table, one for the scouting notebooks maybe.

2016 has been…

…solid, but if there’s more to come it may have to be elsewhere.

In these days of football over-saturation it’s hard to find the Çalik’s of this world - really good young players who aren’t being permanently linked with a move by over active agents or leaked scouting lists. This young man is a good defender, might be excellent in time, and has a very natural skill set.

His team around him ensure he gets plenty of time to work on his defensive qualities and we find ourselves thinking about what might happen were he to move to a better side. This season they find themselves (at the time of writing) mid-table again and Çalik is doing what he does - being quietly impressive in a side who often aren’t. It looks like it might be another average season for Gençlerbirligi, how long can they keep their above average defender?

What’s next?

We wonder who’s scouting this young player, now a full international with a trip to Euro 2016 behind him too. The transfer rumours have purely been domestic but having been watching Çalik over the year we just can’t see that lasting. Someone, somewhere, is going to get a bargain.

And we would suggest, despite our near constant message of taking your time and consistency being more important than fireworks at this stage, that he takes that move as/when it comes. Defenders need to defend to learn their trade, but in a better team the time to work on the nuances would be rewarded long-term.

He didn’t feature at the Euros, his team are nowhere near European competition as it stands, time to broaden those horizons somewhere.

So, one for the purists at the moment as we’re not for a minute suggesting he’s either Baresi incarnate or particularly exciting to watch, but there’s something there. Those of you afforded the time to play Football Manager may well want to sign him as we’re sure he’ll be both cheap and a wonder kid in waiting. Let us know how he gets on.

C+     Solid and steady progress is good, step up needed to kick on