Standout Stars: Süper Lig 2023/24

By Neel Shelat

With the transfer window now open, clubs around the world will be looking to strengthen their squads in preparation for the next campaign, so the standout stars in various leagues will be on many radars. Using Smarterscout’s league benchmarking models and advanced metrics, we will pick out some such players in this series.

The Süper Lig has always been a fascinating competition to follow thanks to the intense rivalry between the top teams as well as its journeymen stars hailing from all over the world. Increasingly, though, it is also a league that the world’s best teams must keep an eye on to find top-class talent. Arda Güler’s recent transfer to Real Madrid as well as Türkiye’s impressive performances at the Euros should solidify that fact, so let us look back on the 2023/24 season to identify some of the best players currently plying their trade in the league:

Ferdi Kadıoğlu (LB/RB, 1999, Fenerbahçe)

Ferdi Kadıoğlu has been one of the stars of Türkiye’s Euros campaign, standing out on the left of their defense. That is also where he spent most of last season for Fenerbahçe, although he previously also showed that he can do just as good a job on the right.

In either position, the Turkish international pops out as an exceptionally polished ball-playing full-back. He offers top-class ball retention thanks to his supreme strength in ground duels and great control, gets the ball forward very well by running with it and often driving infield, and caps it all off with significant attacking output through lovely creative passing with his right foot.

As full-back roles continue to evolve in the modern game, a player of Kadıoğlu’s qualities is destined for the very highest level. Arsenal were said to be interested in him even before the Euros, but they are sure to face a great deal of competition now which could well enable Fenerbahçe to get €30 million or so for his transfer.

Abdülkerim Bardakcı (CB, 1994, Galatasaray)

Abdülkerim Bardakcı has been less eye-catching than his defensive partners at the Euros, but he stands out even more as far as our model is concerned.

He has been a rock at the back of defenses season upon season in the Süper Lig, showing great defending quality as well as quantity, looking solid on the ball and even posing a significant attacking threat from set-pieces.

Bardakcı has all the qualities anyone would want in a center-back. He has a great physique which he uses to his advantage to win all sorts of duels, making him quite tough to pass with or without the ball. He is quite agile too and shows a good reading of the game, so getting balls in behind him is not an easy task either. He is not half-bad on the ball either, making him quite the complete package.

Our model believes the 29-year-old defender could easily cut it in a top-five league, but his most likely next destination may well be Saudi Arabia according to recent reports. Galatasaray received a €10 million offer for him prior to the Euros, which they will find tough to reject unless it is outbid since they only paid €2.8 million to bring him in from Konyaspor.

Sebastian Szymański (CAM, 1999, Fenerbahçe)

The most surprising signing of the 2023 summer in the Süper Lig definitely was Sebastian Szymański’s move to Fenerbahçe. On the back of an impressive season with Eredivisie champions Feyenoord, most expected him to move to a top five league, but he ended up in İstanbul instead as Fenerbahçe could sign him for a cut-price seven-digit figure since he was still contracted to Dinamo Moscow.

The move has not gone badly at all as far as his career is concerned, as he enjoyed his best league season to date with 10 goals and 11 assists in the 2023/24 campaign. In the process, he showed just why he is such a highly-rated attacking midfield talent. The Polish international’s off-ball movement and positioning is brilliant as he drifts between the lines to receive forward passes and attacks the box well as a secondary runner. His ball control is brilliant be it to receive the ball, release passes or take shots, and he also shows great vision to make the right decisions in the final third – particularly with his creative passing.

Szymański has been attracting interest from several top English Premier League clubs since the start of the year, with Fenerbahçe primed to receive about double the transfer fee they paid to sign him last year. At the moment, Tottenham Hotspur appear to be the most serious about submitting a bid.

Alexander Djiku (CB, 1994, Fenerbahçe)

Alexander Djiku was another interesting signing Fenerbahçe made last summer as they picked him up after the expiry of his contract with Strasbourg.

He too is a player who would do well for a European-level club in a top-five league, having shown excellent defending quality in Ligue 1 before keeping it up in Türkiye. The Ghanaian international is quite strong in his tackles and also reads the game well to make a good deal of interceptions, topping his squad’s charts in the latter metric by some margin last season.

Djiku does well enough to keep things safe on the ball, offers decent progression with his passing and wins quite a few aerial duels in set-piece situations, so he too is pretty well-rounded. He may well end up staying at Fenerbahçe having just joined last summer, but a hefty-enough fee should be enough to pry him away if some other club desperately needs a center-back.

Paul Onuachu (ST, 1993, Trabzonspor (on loan from Southampton))

Paul Onuachu might not be the finisher out there or have particularly good ball control, but standing at over two meters tall (~6'6"), he is the definition of a big man up top.

Southampton spent €18 million to sign him in January 2023 while they were fighting a relegation battle in the Premier League, but they failed to get the best out of him and decided to loan him out to Trabzonspor for the 2023/24 season. He enjoyed a much better time in Türkiye, returning with 15 goals and 4 assists in the league.

Onuachu’s profile makes him suited to a very specific type of team (one that puts a lot of crosses into the box), so that is what he must be cognizant of before deciding his next move. A permanent return to Trabzon is not off the cards, but direct teams in the top five leagues should also be making some inquiries.

To check out these players and thousands more from over 60 leagues around the world head over to smarterscout.com and create a free account to get started.

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