Kenan Yildiz: Who is the Arsenal and Liverpool target and how would he fit in for either club?

Juventus’ new star striker Kenan Yildiz has been linked with many top teams due to a lack of playing time and the exciting Turkish international could be an important signing for Arsenal or Liverpool.

Yildiz is an instinctive finisher with great reactions. His composure in one-on-one situations for someone so young is so impressive. He plays with a bravery and fearlessness, hungry to take on players, to shoot frequently, to try skill-moves.

Yildiz executes instinctive finishes on both feet accurately due to the fact he’s ambipedal. He has a lot of variety to his finishes, whether it’s opening up his body to slot the ball in the far bottom corner, ball-striking with ferocity through his laces, or chipped finishes over the keeper.

Kenan’s ball-striking off both feet is excellent. He strikes the ball cleanly with so much power and is a danger outside the box. Yildiz manages to get shots off quickly due to having minimal backlift and so much power in his legs.

He will often drop deeper so he can receive the ball on the edge of the box then turn to shoot from distance. To be a threat on the edge of the box on either foot is so dangerous because as a defender you can’t anticipate which side he’ll go on and he ends up beating you and smashing a shot on target.

Yildiz has a high usage of his weaker left foot. Not only is he good with both feet but he uses both regularly making him unpredictable and hard to defend – similar to players like Leandro Trossard in this regard but his playstyle mirrors a lot of Gabriel Martinelli’s in both his dribbling and finishing style.

The Juve prospect is a technical forward with super close control in tight spaces. One of Yildiz’s best strengths is the ability to interchange with other attackers and play quick one touch passes to create spaces and chances to shoot.

Keeping close control and making sharp turns are his bread and butter. He’s the type of technical player who thrives off having more technical players around him, all interchanging, playing short give-and-go passes. If you surround Yildiz with other intelligent players his own intelligence will shine.

Not only is Yildiz a technician but he’s an athlete too. With rapid acceleration and a high top speed he’s a threat on transition able to break away and drive into space. His acceleration enables him to burst past defenders when taking them on and when he’s dribbling, he varies his stride pattern to create uncertainty of which direction he’s going to run in and create separation.

When he plays as a left-winger he loves to drive into the space behind from deep or near the penalty area to create cutbacks and shooting opportunities. But it’s his agility which shines most, weaving in and out of challenges in tight spaces.

Yildiz is so dangerous in half spaces, he loves to drop deep to come into central areas whether he’s playing wide or as a striker. It’s here where he can roam around the pockets looking to receive the ball on the half turn, face the goal and run at the defence to take them on. He’ll then interchange and play quick give and go passes to beat the press and get closer to goal.

Yildiz plays as a striker, false 9 or left-winger but his creativity is that of a pure #10.

READ MORE – Alan Varela: Who is the Porto v Arsenal MOTM – and why he might suit Liverpool, Man City

One of his best strengths is his link-up play. Yildiz is a highly intelligent player with great spatial awareness. As a player, his profile suits the type of teams that dominate possession and would regularly face against low blocks. Teams like the ones linked – Arsenal and Liverpool. Yildiz has the intelligence and ability to hurt teams even in tight spaces.

With Yildiz being such an intelligent player, he needs to be in a system where there are other players to play off and link up with. As a striker/false 9 he could become a similar profile to become a Benzema/Kane 2.0 but could also be moulded into another position, whether it’s as a creative left-winger in a possession-dominant side, a second striker or a #10.

Intelligent players like Kenan are always so versatile. But as a false 9/striker is where he has the highest ceiling. If played with other technical forwards he would combine well with them to create chances but also get on the end of chances and finish well with both feet.

Yildiz works hard off the ball to win the ball back. He’s a relentless presser. His high work rate to press the opponent’s defence high and recover the ball to exploit spaces in the opposition’s defence makes him perfect for a high-pressing team like Arsenal or Liverpool. This ability combined with his IQ and dynamism is reminiscent of RB Leipzig star, Xavi Simons. Just like Simons, he could play as an advanced 8/10.

German born Yildiz signed for Juventus from Bayern Munich’s academy on a free transfer in the 2022 summer transfer window. Yildiz’s mother is German, but his father is Turkish. Since Turkey approached him, he’s chosen to represent them playing three games so far, scoring one goal (against Germany).

Yildiz had previously not been given many minutes for Juventus even though he was playing for Turkey’s national team. But he then got his first start for Juventus and guess what, he scored.

Since then, he’s also scored two goals in two Coppa Italia games. But he’s gone back to being used mainly off the bench in Serie A. He needs more minutes at senior level. This season in Serie A he’s been in the squad 25 times, of these he was in the starting XI seven times, substituted on nine times and stuck on the bench for the remaining nine.

Considering the style Max Allegri plays, Yildiz’s creativity has been wasted in Juventus’ system so far. A move away may be beneficial – but could that be to Arsenal or Liverpool?

Arsenal

With how Arsenal set up, Yildiz could play the role of players like Martinelli, Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz. Left wing, striker, false nine, support striker, attacking midfielder. Point being, he’d be very valuable to them.

As a striker he’d be a clinical instinctive finisher which they don’t have many of right now. But also, considering he could be linking up with players like the aforementioned list and also Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Fabio Vieira, Declan Rice and Emile Smith Rowe etc., Yildiz would be surrounded by technical players all looking to give-and-go, interchange positions and confuse the opponent to score some excellent goals. He’d fit in perfectly there.

Liverpool

Considering how similar in style he is to Martinelli and how much Klopp is an admirer of Martinelli, this makes a lot of sense. He is also very reminiscent of Jota in how he has close control, good in tight spaces with deadly finishing off both feet.

Yildiz would be rotation for Jota and could also rotate with Luis Diaz on the left wing too. Again, at Liverpool, he would be surrounded by so many technical players. Players like Diaz, Jota, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alexis Mac Allister etc. are all highly technical players with good off the ball work rate and play a high pressing style. Yildiz would fit like a glove at Liverpool.

With prospects such as Yildiz, Arda Guler, Can Uzun, Orkun Kokcu, Ferdi Kadioglu, Semih Kilicsoy, Efe Akman, Yunus Emre, Konak, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Naci Unuvar etc., Turkey could have a super technical team in the future with Yildiz leading the line. Watch out for him.