Kenan Yıldız: the Next Gen poster-boy
The definitive SCOUTED50 profile on Juventus' big attacking hope.
SCOUTED50 is our collection of the fifty young talents we believe are best positioned to break into the mainstream during 2023/24. Throughout the season, we’ll be detailing all fifty in definitive profiles.
The full list can be read here. Here’s a definitive look at Kenan Yıldız.
This profile was produced as part of a commercial collaboration with SkillCorner, SCOUTED’s official data partner. SkillCorner’s tracking and performance data is used by more than 150 of the world’s biggest clubs, leagues and confederations. Learn more.
All stats correct as of 21/03/2024 unless otherwise noted.
The fight to sign the world’s best talent has never been more competitive than it is now.
Many readers will remember the battle amongst Europe’s biggest clubs to sign 16-year-old Martin Ødegaard. The Norwegian travelled across the continent to trial at Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, and fielded offers from dozens more clubs before finally accepting Real Madrid’s.
While that was extraordinary at the time, similar instances are now much more commonplace, with many unattached young players attracting interest from those looking to jump the competition before the price skyrockets.
The subject of this profile, Kenan Yıldız, was one such instance. His story lacked the press hype or the tour of Europe, but nonetheless featured a desperate battle between many of Europe’s major clubs to sign the academy starlet emerging from Bayern Munich.
Eventually, two contenders emerged: Barcelona and Juventus.
Choosing between clubs in these situations, as was true for both Ødegaard and Yıldız, revolves around two key factors: finance and pathways. For Ødegaard, Real Madrid offered a chance to develop through the club’s second team - a team that, somewhat uniquely, plays at senior level. Meanwhile, Yıldız’s entourage clearly thought he was ready for the step up, but Bayern were unwilling to meet his financial and playing time demands. It was a difficult situation for a high-performing club and Juventus were ready to swoop in and take advantage, adding Yıldız to their always-growing warchest of academy talents.
At Juve, Yıldız has enjoyed an immediate and sustained rise, dominating at Primavera level upon his arrival in 2022/23 and adding a few appearances with Juventus Next Gen in Serie C. He started this season as a regular with the Next Gen team, before he was propelled into full-time senior duties after a superb full debut in Serie A in December against Frosinone.
He marked that game with a debut goal that immediately highlighted the elite-level talent Juventus had acquired.
It’s been the kind of meteoric trajectory that Yıldız’s entourage would’ve envisaged when they made the decision to leave Bayern. A goal on his senior international debut for Turkey against the nation of his birth, Germany, capped a remarkable rise.
The lesson is clear: if you don’t offer your top youth prospects opportunities or a credible pathway, another club will.
Yıldız has found his pathway — albeit in a fortuitously accelerated manner — in Max Allegri’s Juventus team. He has already formed a strong partnership with Dušan Vlahović as the creative hub in Juve’s front two and contributed enormously to the Serbian’s strong run of form in January.
At 18, Yıldız already has the temperament and quality to play at Serie A level. Now we wait for inevitable, but gradual, ascension that surely awaits the first poster-boy of Juve’s Next Gen project.
In this profile:
Growing pains in his early minutes under Allegri
Finding the value in the roles he can play
The limitations, making runs and the physicals
The art of utilising his future
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to SCOUTED Notebook to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.