Selcuk Inan

Selçuk Inan (born 10 February 1985) is a Turkish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Süper Lig side Galatasaray S.K. and the Turkey national team. Inan was born in Iskenderun on 10 February 1985. By the age of 14, he was spotted by scouting agents and immediately signed by one of the local clubs, Karaagaçspor. His multidimensonal style of play and unique footballing mind were soon to be discovered by Dardanel Spor. At professional level, Inan scored his first goal in a league game against Antalyaspor on 1 December 2002, when he was only 17. Inan began his career as a 14-year-old for Karaagaçspor. He signed for Dardanel Spor in 2000, when he played until his departure to Manisaspor in 2005. Trabzonspor signed Inan in 2008, where he played for three seasons. Trabzonspor, then coached by Ersun Yanal (Inan's former trainer at Manisaspor), signed Inan in early 2008. He scored two goals against Ankaraspor in his first Süper Lig game at Trabzonspor, then also scored Trabzonspor's 2,000th league goal in a game against Istanbul BB on 1 November 2008. He had formed a prolific partnership with strikers Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz, the latter a former teammate of Inan at Manisaspor). During Inan's services, Trabzonspor had its most successful two seasons of the decade, most notably finishing as the runners-up in the 2010-11 Süper Lig season. Inan agreed to a five-year deal on a free transfer with Galatasaray S.K. on 25 May 2011. He quickly took over the Galatasaray S.K. midfield from the day he stepped foot in Türk Telekom Arena. Partnering up with Brazilian midfielder Felipe Melo, Inan began to manifest his exceptional skills which helped Galatasaray S.K. to gain a higher level of offensive and defensive state of play. Inan, being a fan favourite at Galatasaray S.K., received the a nickname called "Xelçuk", a play on words after Spanish midfielder Xavi Hernández. In the 2010-11 Süper Lig season, Galatasaray S.K.finished eighth in the league table with 14 wins, 4 draws and 16 losses, its worst season in the club's history of 107 years. Right after the last game of the season, the club announced a council meeting in order to elect a new board of directors. During his first month, the fledgling Galatasaray S.K. chairman Ünal Aysal's first task was to bring in Inan to the team. Although the previous Galatasaray S.K. board which was run by Adnan Polat already had an agreement with Trabzonspor in the Selçuk Inan case during the 2010-11 season, it was the new board that brought in the player for free as Inan's contract with Trabzonspor was over. After the first four games of the new season, Galatasaray S.K. had two wins, one draw and one loss, which did not seem highly promising to the fans, although there was a remarkable sense of change in the team, especially in the midfield area. Inan started to lead the team as weeks went by, helping Galatasaray S.K. win ten matches in a row and finish the first half of the season with 37 points, top of the league. By the end of matchday 34, right before the Süper Final series, Galatasaray S.K. was both the highest-scoring and least conceding team in the league, and had a nine-point gap with their closest competitors, Fenerbahçe S.K.. Inan scored his first official goal for Galatasaray S.K. against Samsunspor on 18 September 2011. His first free-kick goal came against his former club Trabzonspor on 11 December. The game resulted in a 3-0 win for Galatasaray S.K.. He scored his second free-kick goal against Manisaspor on 21 December, was also the winner for Gala, as the game finished 1-0. His third free-kick goal came against Gençlerbirligi on 10 March 2012, a 2-0 win for Galatasaray S.K.. On 28 April, Inan scored his fourth free-kick goal of the season, being the second one against his former club Trabzonspor, followed by his fifth-free kick goal against Fenerbahçe S.K. in the Süper Final series. In his first season at Galatasaray S.K., Inan scored a total of 13 goals and made 16 assists in both Süper Lig and Süper Final matches. During the championship celebrations, held at the Türk Telekom Arena on 13 May, Inan was called onstage twice by Galatasaray S.K. fans. On 12 August 2012, defending Süper Lig champions Galatasaray S.K. beat the defending Turkish Cup winners Fenerbahçe in the 2012 Turkish Super Cup. Inan provided two assists to his teammate Umut Bulut and scored the winning goal himself from a penalty kick in the 90th minute right before the final whistle; the game finished 3-2. As Galatasaray S.K. won the Turkish Super Cup for the 12th time, Bulut was voted as the man of the match, although Inan also made a significant contribution to the victory. Inan scored his first goal of the 2012-13 Süper Lig season - another late penalty - in the game against Besiktas J.K. on 26 August, the equalizer for Galatasaray S.K. as the game finished 3-3. Inan also had one assist in the game which was scored by Umut Bulut as Inan delivered in the corner kick from the left hand side. Inan scored his second goal of the season against Istanbul BB, which was assisted by striker Burak Yilmaz. Inan in a September 2012 match against Akhisar Belediyespor On 23 September, Inan started the game against Akhisar Belediyespor wearing the captain's armband, due to vice captain Hakan Balta's absence. The match resulted in a 3-0 win for Galatasaray S.K.. After a few disappointing performances both in Süper Lig and the UEFA Champions League during October, Inan responded with a wonderful display against Kayserispor in the Süper Lig match on 27 October, creating two assists to his teammates Burak Yilmaz and Cris, with Cris' header goal coming from the set piece free-kick which was taken by Inan by the left hand side. Inan has played at every level for Turkey from under-16 to the senior side. He made his debut against Moldova on 13 October 2007. Although he was called up back in February for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers match against Georgia, Inan could not join the team on the pitch due to injury. He also did not take action at the Euro 2008 group stage due to a two-game suspension received prior to the tournament. Inan played at every game in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers and made six assists to his teammates in total, although it was not enough for the Turks to qualify for the tournament's final stages, in Poland and Ukraine. Inan scored his first international goal on 24 May 2012 in a 3-1 friendly match victory over Georgia. His second goal came against Estonia in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match played on 11 September 2012. He scored his third goal with a finely-curled free-kick over the wall against Andorra in another World Cup qualifier on 22 March 2013. Inan, a free-kick specialist, scored his most famous goal with the national team against Iceland in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group A. Turkey, going into 89th minute with ten men and a score of 0-0 against an already qualified Iceland, had the chance to be the best third team if the match is won. Inan scored a spectacular free-kick from 30 yards out through the right side of Ögmundur Kristinsson, sending Turkey directly to EURO 2016, without playing the play-offs.