Stoke City has had a difficult season thus far, but the teenage striker Emre Tezgel has emerged as a major asset, and they need to make sure they hang onto him because his contract is going to expire at the end of the current one.
Tezgel, who was born in Burton, was a highly regarded youth striker for many years. He is only now starting to establish himself in senior football after Steven Schumacher gave him regular opportunities at the start of the season before firing him following the Potters’ September 16 loss to Oxford United.
When he made his senior debut for Stoke in January 2022 at the age of 16 years and 112 days, he became the youngest player to ever play for the Potters. At the time, he was reportedly drawing interest from some of the top clubs in England, including Chelsea and Manchester United, due to his impressive exploits in the Potters’ youth teams, as he scored 12 goals in nine games for the under-18s in 2021/22. However, injuries caused his brief career to slow down over the following few years.
He recently turned 19 and appears to be permanently back in the senior squad at his childhood club, therefore the Potters must extend his current contract before he is free to depart at the end of the season in response to his breakthrough.
Emre Tezgel is the future of Stoke’s attack
Tezgel signed his first professional contract, a three-year deal, with the Potters in July 2022 after he had made his first-team debut in the FA Cup against Leyton Orient under Michael O’Neill just six months earlier.
The England youth international caught the eye of talent-spotting fans across the country for a number of years due to his impressive goal tally in the Potters’ youth teams, and went on to feature six times for the first-team across the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons, but his progress soon became stop-start due to persistent muscle issues and the club’s subsequent reluctance to push him too far into men’s football at such a young age.
Tezgel returned to action for the under-21s late last year after an injury had kept him sidelined, and joined MK Dons on loan in the January window to help with their play-off push, where he made just five league starts in his 17 appearances for the club, but registered three goals and assists each under Mike Williamson – a decent return for his first real foray into men’s football.
Off the back of that impressive spell, he has fully broken into the Potters’ senior squad this season and begun to net at senior level consistently for the first time in his short career, with his first goal for the club coming in the EFL Cup first round against Carlisle United, and his second the opener in a 5-0 thrashing of Middlesbrough in the next round.
He was handed starts in each of Stoke’s first two league games of the campaign against Coventry City and Watford, and held his own against two tough defences, with his stellar start to the season earning him a first call-up to the England Elite League (U20) squad earlier this month, where he started both games and notched an assist against Turkey.
| Emre Tezgel’s professional career record so far | |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 29 |
| Starts | 8 |
| Goals | 5 |
| Assists | 3 |
| Stats as per Transfermarkt | |
Although his opportunities under the new Potters manager Narcis Pelach are yet unknown, it appears likely that he will continue to play a significant role this season because Stoke’s attacking depth is still severely lacking.
Whatever his success this season, it is obvious that he will play a significant role in Stoke’s future. With his present contract expiring the next year, the Potters need to take action and extend an offer to him.
A new Tezgel contract would deter elite teams from showing interest.
When Tezgel was first making waves with Stoke, he was being courted by some of the greatest teams in the world, and rightfully so, as he became known as one of the nation’s most exciting striker possibilities.
The 16-year-old was the subject of increasing interest from teams like Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City, according to a Daily Mail article in October 2021. However, he quickly signed his first contract with the Potters to stifle any interest.
If the 19-year-old plays for Stoke this season without agreeing to a new contract, it wouldn’t be surprising to see some elite teams rekindle their interest in him. Chelsea and Manchester United have both been known to sign promising young players in the past as they attempt to compete with teams like Manchester City and Arsenal for the top spot in the Premier League.
Since American businessman Todd Boehly became chairman in 2022, the Blues have developed a transfer strategy that aims to sign young players with high potential on long-term contracts. Over the last three years, 14 teenagers have joined the first team, some for huge fees and some on free transfers, as they look to assemble a team capable of developing into top players over time.
Although United has a history of luring young players to play for them, not many of those moves have turned out well, they have not been as successful in hoarding young players in the hopes that some may eventually break into the first team or turn a profit.
The likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Daniel James, Donny van de Beek, and Jadon Sancho have all seen their careers decline after joining the Red Devils in recent years; both United and Chelsea have a lengthy history of stealing talented players from lower-tier teams. This may be on a much larger scale than Tezgel.
Tezgel’s career prospects are genuinely limitless given his goal-scoring abilities, therefore Stoke has to make sure they lock their prospect down to a new, long-term contract as soon as feasible.
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