The German U-21 European champion Salih Özcan will play for Turkey in the future. The midfielder of 1. FC Köln announced this on Friday via Instagram. A clear rejection of Hansi Flick and the DFB-Elf.
U21 European champion Salih Özcan from 1. FC Köln will play for Turkey in the future. The 24-year-old announced this on Instagram on Friday. At the same time, national coach Stefan Kuntz nominated the midfielder for Turkey’s international match against Italy on Tuesday (8:45 p.m.). Özcan had previously gone through all the youth teams of the German Football Association (DFB) since the U15s.
“In the past few weeks I’ve dealt with this question intensively, thought a lot, had a lot of conversations with my family and in the end made a decision with complete conviction: I want to play for Turkey,” said Özcan, who was under Kuntz of the German U21 had become European champions in the previous year.
Due to his good performance in the Cologne jersey in the current season, he was also considered a candidate for an early nomination by national coach Hansi Flick. Özcan emphasized that it was a decision “that doesn’t diminish my respect for Germany and the DFB team one bit”. He expressly thanked Flick, “who had good discussions with me and showed me attractive perspectives”.