Players such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Neymar and Mohamed Salah have dominated the headlines for years, but there comes an irrevocable moment when they must hand over their throne to the next generation. In the section Toppers of Tomorrow put Football zone each time a potential successor to these greats in the limelight. Who is in the spotlight at the biggest clubs and therefore should not be missing from your own watch list? This time the focus is on Ozan Kabak, who is still under contract with Schalke 04 and has been associated with Bayern Munich, Manchester United, AC Milan and most recently Liverpool for years.

By Thijs Verhaar

“The worst defender who’s played an interstate for Turkey in the last twenty years? Pfff, you’re asking a question like that,” says Sertac Kücükelci. The journalist of Goal comes after some hesitation to three names: Gökhan Zan, Giray Kacar and Aykut Demir. “But I really could have called many more flops,” he hurries to say. “In the middle of the back we’ve had so little to choose from that it’s a small miracle that we suddenly have a strong duo”, Kücükelci refers to Merih Demiral from Juventus and Caglar Söyüncü from Leicester City. The internationals of 22 and 24 years respectively have everything in them to form the defensive block of the national team for at least ten years, were it not for the fact that one of them will probably soon have to give up his place to the 20-year-old growth brilliant Ozak Kabak. He now has two internationals to his name and made an excellent impression against Serbia in the Nations League.

The Ankara-born defender grew up near Galatasaray and made his debut in May 2018 at the age of seventeen with the Turkish superpower. Coach Fatih Terim did not care about his young age and regularly pointed to Kabak’s status as captain of several national youth teams. In the main force of Cim Bomb It didn’t run from a metre at the time, but he held his own effortlessly and after six months a lucrative transfer to VfL Stuttgart followed, which cost him eleven million euros. The German club wanted to quietly prepare him as the successor of Benjamin Pavard, but he immediately became a basic player. “Ozan is incredibly mature for his age”, sports director Thomas Hitzlsperger jubilated, who saw Kabak win almost all the cup matches despite his relatively short height of 1.86 meters. “I already think he’s a role model because of his professional attitude and eagerness to learn. For example, he went straight to German lessons in order to be able to express himself better at training sessions and during competitions”.

Kabak scores excellently on a physical and defensive level, while he is also almost unbeatable in the air and turns out to be quite purposeful at moments of death. He scored three goals last season.

The young Turk also excels with his speed and is positionally very strong. He owes the latter partly to a Dutchman, because Kabak regularly watches films by his idol Virgil van Dijk. Just like the Dutch captain he is a real leader, who regularly makes a difference in an offensive way. In his first six months at Stuttgart, he scored three times from a corner or free kick, but that didn’t prevent his team from relegating. However, he didn’t have to descend to the second level himself, because with his election as the best newcomer in Germany, he had nothing to complain about. Kabak trumped Achraf Hakimi for that award and eventually opted for an employment with Schalke 04, which Bayern Munich and AC Milan beat with the prospect of a lot of playing time. “Ozan is one of the best young defenders in Europe”, coach David Wagner shone at his presentation. “Everyone knows what kind of teams were trying to attract him, so I’m very happy that he wants to develop himself here. We are going to help him in every way we can”.

Kabak then seemed destined to play everything right away, but a foot injury kept him out of the team for the first six games and in February he suffered a complicated injury in his dorsal vertebrae, which kept him out of the way from shortly before until shortly after the coronabreak. Because of that, he only played 26 games in his debut season in Gelschenkirchen. Nevertheless, the youngster once again showed he could easily hold his own in the Bundesliga, although it should be noted that Schalke also scored a lot of goals with him in the final stages of the season. Nevertheless, judges FootballCritic all of his last ten appearances with a pass, which means he managed to escape the malaise, at least in part. The football statistics website currently considers him of the same level as, for example, Davinson Sánchez and John Stones and foresees a very bright future for the Turkish front stopper. FootballCritic Calculates that Kabak successfully tackled in 63 percent of cases last season, captured ball possession almost twice per game, defended five times per game and sent out more than 40 successful passes each match. Finally, the 15 million euro defender was also named man of the match twice.

Even in Schalke’s dramatic series last season Kabak did not fall through the bottom once.

If you take a closer look at his fit, you’ll come to the conclusion that Kabak scored 83.6 per cent lower than the absolute top defenders in the five biggest leagues last season. However, this can largely be explained by Wagner’s risky playing style. Schalke’s coach urges his defenders to handle the long ball as much as possible when they see an opportunity to set up a counter. In Kabak’s case, this results in three out of four cases in possession of the ball, from which the speed of play often results in a promising situation. The greatest quality of the right leg, however, is its ability to read matches. The Turk played mainly as a striker in the youth for a long time and thus knows exactly how attackers think and move on the field. Therefore he is almost always in position and with his speed he is also able to play with a lot of space in his back. This makes Kabak ideal for teams with a high line of defence.

Not for nothing that Josep Guardiola reportedly put him on his wish list in 2018, but Manchester City didn’t go through with it at the time. However, the club has continued to follow him, even though the priority is on an already arriving star as Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli. Lazio, Leicester City and, according to English and German media, especially Liverpool wanted to make Kabak work this summer, but Schalke is not in favour of letting him go to Anfield as Dejan Lovren’s successor. “Last year we managed to bring Ozan here and we’re still extremely happy with that. He’s a topper, one of the best talents in his position. Our fans can be sure he won’t leave this summer”, sports director Jochen Schneider assured during a press conference in mid-September. He plans to let Kabak ripen in Gelschenkirchen for at least another year and the policymaker knows that after a good season and/or strong European Championship his transfer fee will be much higher than his current estimated transfer value of 29 million euros.

In his last 1,800 minutes Kabak was as good as Davinson Sánchez and John Stones.

Kabak hopes to play everything this season with the national team and with Schalke, who can fully focus on the league and the cup. The lack of European football is a disappointment for the defender, who knows that his competitors in Turkey are active on the highest podium. However, next season he will also be able to prove himself in the Bundesliga often enough, because in the opening of the season he will be able to compete directly against the Bayern Munich of world striker Robert Lewandowski. Schalke is keen to recover and despite the departure of goalkeeper Alexander Nübel (Bayern) and midfielder Weston McKennie (Juventus) should be able to finish in the top four. Kabak, despite his young age, was required to act as a leader and to become even more involved in the build-up. “He can certainly handle such a role,” Kücükelci expected. “He will also see this as an opportunity to prove himself for the national team, where the competition with Demiral and Söyüncü is very strong,” the journalist states.

National coach Senol Günes could possibly play with three-man defense, but at least for the time being he will stick to a system with a central duo. In the last two interlands Söyüncü was uncontroversial, while Demiral and Kabak each got a chance once. “Both did just fine”, analyzes Kücükelci, who expects Kabak to make a transfer to the world top next season. “It certainly looks that way. If he can stay fit and continue on the same footing as now, he can get very far.” Figures from FootballCritic support that expectation. The website gives all players a rating between zero and one hundred and is based on the last 1,800 minutes of play in which someone acted. By measuring over such a long period of time, it is crystal clear how constantly players are performing.

It is very difficult for young footballers to be good every week, so the score of Kabak (77) is excellent. Thanks to his solid performances at Schalke 04 and the Turkish national team, he scores one point higher than the two years older Demiral and therefore already emphatically claims the spot next to the unapproachable Söyüncü (85). Moreover, according to FootballCritic currently the best performing young centre defender in the world, although he has to share this status with nineteen-year-old Benoît Mukinayi of AS Monaco. Until recently, Matthijs de Ligt (82) had the honorary title, but he celebrated his 21st birthday last month and therefore no longer competes in that classification.