Berke Ozer, the young Turkish goalkeeping prodigy is going to be in red-hot demand in the upcoming transfer market. According to reports, the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona and Manchester City are all after his signature for quite some time now. The 17-year-old has already been called on for international duty.
The young Turk’s career so far correlates with that of the AC Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Donnarumma made his Serie A debut when he was just 16 and earned his first international cap for Italy at 17. At this moment, Chelsea has seemed to intensify their pursuit for the young Turk as Thibaut Courtois seems uncertain about his future with the Blues. In fact, to bring him to Stamford Bridge Chelsea are willing to offer his club Altinordu, Chelsea players on loan.
Though it has been reported that Altinordu coach Huseyin Eroglu, has politely declined the offer. He said We are not interested in training up other clubs’ players. Our mission is clear. Altinordu will develop local youths to create a complete Academy-developed squad.”Altinordu is a Turkish second division team and currently use all homegrown players in their squad.
It will be interesting to see whether Berke Ozer will be tempted if clubs like Barcelona come calling. The 17-year is being rated as the best shot-stopper of his generation.
Barcelona already has a great goalkeeper at their disposal in Ter Stegen who is relatively young. Plus Barcelona as a team demand more from their goalkeepers. They don’t just want shot-stopper. The goalkeeper in their system is an important player as he is the one who starts the attack from the back. Barcelona is willing to take the risk of being pressed upon and they trust Ter Stegen to find the right pass in a crunch situation.
It will be important to see whether Ozer has that ability to become a Barcelona goalkeeper. At this point of his age, he will surely like to go to a club where he is assured of starts. At Barcelona, the young Turk will be competing with likes of Marc Andre Ter Stegen and Jasper Cillesen. Ter Stegen has proved his worth in his years at Barcelona and is adept at playing the sweeper-keeper role to perfection. The young Turk might be a good shot stopper but to become a first choice Barcelona goalkeeper, he will need to have more to his game than just being good at ball handling.
