The Inter and Turkish national team midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu became the first Turkish football player to be among the candidates for the Ballon d'Or after a 21-year break.
Nihat Kahveci was the last Turkish footballer to receive this honor in 2003, while playing for Real Sociedad. He finished tied for 18th-19th place with Italian legend Francesco Totti, earning 3 points in the Ballon d'Or voting, per Idman.biz.
In the summer, Hakan Çalhanoğlu had a standout performance with the Turkish national team at Euro 2024, helping the team reach the quarterfinals. The star midfielder also became the second Turkish player, after Rüştü Reçber, to participate in three European Championships. Notably, Çalhanoğlu scored a crucial goal in Turkiye's 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic during the final group match of the tournament held in Germany. Çalhanoğlu performed well last season, especially at Inter. He was one of the leading players when Simone Inzaghi's team won their 20th Scudetto (Çalhanoğlu's debut), scoring 13 goals (a personal best!) and providing three assists in 32 games. He was officially named the best midfielder of Series A and according to SofaScore evaluation, he was the best player of the Italian Championship in the last two seasons with average results of 7.31 and 7.68 respectively.
Despite this, Çalhanoğlu's future at Inter was in question in the summer. Thus, he became the main target of Vincent Kompany, the new head coach of Bayern during Euro 2024. The Bavarians reportedly viewed him as a potential player to rebuild a strong midfield following last season's title-less run.
The press even reported that Inter were negotiating the terms of his personal contract with the German giant, hidden from the club. According to information, Bayern offered the 30-year-old player a 4-year contract and a higher salary than he received in Italy.
Moreover, it was said that Bayern was ready to pay about 70 million euros to the Milan club for him.
Finally, in an interview with Sky Sports, Çalhanoğlu touched on the rumors about his possible transfer to Bayern in the summer. He categorically denied that he was trying to leave Giuseppe Meazza: "Those who know me understand how I am. I always stay silent and don’t talk much. I like to work and improve. I can say that in these three years, I’ve been fortunate to find incredible teammates and fans.
I’ve grown thanks to them. I never thought about leaving. I’ve always been sure of staying at Inter, even when rumors surfaced. I chose to focus on my work and only spoke up at the end to calm everyone down.”
According to "Calcio e Finanza” Çalhanoğlu is one of the four highest paid players in Series A. After Victor Osimhen left Napoli, Dusan Vlahovic became the top-earning Series A player at Juventus with a net income of 12 million euros per season. He is followed by a trio of Inter who have recently signed contracts on new and more lucrative terms: Lautaro Martinez on €9m, not including bonuses, and Çalhanoğlu and Barella on €6.5m each plus bonuses.
Of course, Çalhanoğlu's chances of winning the Ballon d’Or of the 2023/24 season are not high. Goal.com, which compiled the ranking of the main candidates for the prestigious award, did not include him in the list of 15 players.
The Turkish football player himself expressed his hope that Lautaro Martinez, his teammate at Inter, will receive the Ballon d’Or: "He is our captain, he knows how to manage his teammates and always knows how to do something new. He scores a lot and that's the main thing. I hope that he will be awarded the prize."
It is true that Vinicius Junior, the Brazilian striker of Real Madrid, and Rodri, the Spanish midfielder of Manchester City are mentioned as the main candidates to win the Ballon d'Or.
Ballon d'Or’s new owner will be announced on October 28 in Paris.
Rasim
Idman.biz
