Merih Demiral, the star defender of the National Team and Atalanta, had quietly joined his life with Swiss photomodel Heidi Lushtaku about a year ago. Demiral, who also had a son last month, shared the photo of his wife Lushtaku and son for the first time on his social media account.
Demiral couple had a son about 1 month ago. Merih, who prefers to live her private life out of sight, shared the photo of her husband Lushtaku and her son for the first time on her social media account.
Who is Merih Demiral, How old is he and where is he from?
Merih Demiral (born on March 5, 1998; Karamürsel, Kocaeli) is a Turkish national football player who plays as a defender. He plays for Serie A teams Atalanta on loan from Juventus.
The player, who started football in Karamürsel İdman Yurdu, the team of the city where he was born, later transferred to Fenerbahçe. He received a contract offer from Fenerbahçe for minimum wage. He did not accept this offer and left the team.
In 2016, he signed a contract with Alcanenense, one of the Portuguese 3rd League teams, together with his friend Bahadır Çiloğlu from Fenerbahçe and turned professional. He made his debut against SC Lusitânia on 11 September 2016. In the first half of the league, he had the chance to play in the cup twice, as well as 12 league games.
He was transferred to Sporting B team, the reserve team of Sporting Lisbon in the second league, at halftime. Demiral made his debut in the Segunda Liga for Sporting B in the match against Famalicão on February 5, 2017. However, after three matches, he was sent to the infrastructure to gain experience. In the 2017-18 season, he returned to Sporting B and played in 26 matches, becoming one of the team's most played players. Despite his consistent performance, he also drew attention with two red cards.
The football player, who caught the attention of A team coach Jorge Jesus with his performance in the second team, was included in the Sporting Lisbon squad for the cup match played with Oleiros on October 12, 2017 and replaced Daniel Podence at the last minute and wore the A team jersey for the first and last time.
On 15 August 2018, he transferred to Alanyaspor, one of the Super League teams, on loan. Although he did not have a chance to play in the first weeks, his team lost the first three games, and he was put on the field by coach Mesut Bakkal in the Göztepe match on September 1, 2018, and after this match they won 11-1, he did not lose the jersey. On September 0, 17, he won the match by scoring the first goal of his career in the match they beat Trabzonspor 2018-1. In the first half of the season, he played in 0 league and 16 cup games, and received a red card.
On 29 January 2019, he transferred to Alanyaspor for a fee of 3,5 million Euros.
Alanyaspor leased the player to Serie A club Sassuolo on January 30, 2019, with a compulsory purchase option. On July 1, 2019, Sassuolo signed a 7-year contract with the football player for a 4,5 million euro transfer fee as per the option in his contract.
On July 5, 2019, he transferred to Juventus from Serie A teams with a transfer fee of 18 million euros and signed a 5-year contract.
Unable to find a chance to play in the first three league games in Serie A, Merih played his first league match against Hellas Verona in the 4th week with Juventus jersey. After 11 weeks, Merih, who could not find the chance to play again, had a chance to play again in the match against Udinese in the 16th week struggle and completed the match with an assist. Playing in 4 consecutive league games, Merih scored a goal for his team at the beginning of the Roma match, but was injured in the 18th minute and left the game. His cruciate ligaments were torn and it was announced that he closed the 2019-20 season.
Merih started playing regularly after Giorgio Chiellini and Matthijs de Ligt got injured. In the Champions League Group G match against Barcelona, he received a second yellow card and a red card.
It was leased to Atalanta on 6 August 2021 with an option to buy.
Demiral played in Turkey's youth teams, including under-17 and under-19 teams.
He wore the Turkish national football team jersey for the first time on 20 November 2018, replacing Mert Müldür in the 85th minute in the friendly match against Ukraine. Merih participated in the 2020 European Football Championship qualifiers. The qualifying stages, in which Merih played in many matches, ended with the right to participate in the tournament.
Starting the opening match played against Italy in the 2020 European Football Championship in the top 11, Merih sent the ball to their own nets in the 53rd minute and scored the opening goal of the 2020 European Football Championship. It was the first own-goal opening goal in the tournament's history.
Merih comes to the forefront mostly with her sliding interventions. His aggressive, instinctive qualities as a defender are also reflected on the field. Because he is tall and physically strong, he is also effective in air balls. Thanks to this feature, it is successful in sweeping the balls coming into the penalty area. Despite her tall stature and physique, Merih is also fast and moves from behind.
He is compared to Nemanja Vidić because of his characteristic features, and Merih said that he took her as an example. Another player he takes as an example is his teammate Giorgio Chiellini.
Demiral was born as a child of a family that migrated from Arhavi district of Artvin to Karamürsel. While in the Fenerbahçe U-15 team, he lost his mother on 28 December 2012 as a result of an accident in the car that his parents were in. His father survived with injuries.
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