Description
Kenan Yıldız is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or forward for Serie A club Juventus. Born in Germany, he plays for the Turkey national team.
Club career
Youth career
Yıldız was born in Germany, and began playing football at the youth academies of Sallern Regensburg and Jahn Regensburg. He joined the youth academy of Bayern Munich in 2012 at the age of 7, and worked his way up their youth categories, often acting as captain an eventually becoming a mainstay of their U19s. In his final year with the Bayern U19s in the 2021–22 season, Yıldız contributed six goals and eight assists in 20 matches.
Juventus
Yıldız’s contract with Bayern Munich expired in July 2022, and the club confirmed that they were unable to resign Yıldız. Barcelona and Juventus competed for his signing as he became a free agent. On 12 July, Juventus confirmed the signing of Yıldız. In September, he was included among the best 60 players born in 2005 by English newspaper The Guardian. After playing with the U19s, on 16 December, Yıldız was first called up to Juventus Next Gen—the reserve team of Juventus—for the match against Virtus Verona set to be played the following day. In that match, he was subbed in by coach Massimo Brambilla in the 61st minute to make his professional debut; the team lost 3–0. Yıldız made his Serie A debut for Juventus in a 3–0 away win over Udinese on 20 August 2023, coming on as a second-half substitute. Ten days later, he extended his contract with the club until 2027. He made his first start for the Juventus first team on 23 December 2023, scoring the opening goal in a 2–1 win over Frosinone. This made him the club’s youngest foreign goalscorer in Serie A at the age of 18 years and 233 days.
