Alexander Merkel

Alexander Merkel
Personal information
Full name Alexander Merkel
Date of birth 22 February 1992 (1992-02-22) (age 20)
Place of birth Pervomayskiy, Kazakhstan
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Genoa
Number 52
Youth career
JSG Westerwald
2003–2008 VfB Stuttgart
2008–2010 Milan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2009–2011 Milan 6 (0)
2011– Genoa 11 (0)
National team‡
2007 Germany U-15 2 (0)
2007–2008 Germany U-16 15 (0)
2008 Germany U-17 3 (0)
2009 Germany U-18 2 (0)
2010– Germany U-19 2 (1)
2011– Germany U-20 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12 December 2011.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12 December 2011

Alexander Merkel (born 22 February 1992) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Genoa.

Contents

Club career

Early career

Born in Kazakhstan to Russian parents of German ancestry,[1] Merkel moved to Germany with them in 1998, aged 6.[2] There he started playing football with amateur team JSG Westerwald, before joining VfB Stuttgart at the age of 11.[3]

Milan

In 2008, Merkel transferred to Italian side Milan.[4] During his time in the club's youth system, he was a member of the under-20 side who won the Coppa Italia Primavera in 2010, 25 years after the team's last success in the competition.[5]

Merkel received his first call-ups for the senior team during the 2009–10 campaign, but he was never fielded nor named on the bench.[6][7][8] At the beginning of the following season, he took part in some pre-season games, putting up good performances.[2] Merkel eventually made his first-team official debut on 8 December 2010, coming off the bench in a UEFA Champions League group stage game against Ajax, He also came off the bench against Tottenham on the 75th Minute for Boateng [9] on 6 January 2011, he also made his league debut, figuring in the starting line-up for a match against Cagliari.[10] Merkel went on to score his first professional goal on 20 January, as Milan pulled off a 3–0 win over Bari in the Coppa Italia round of 16.[11] In total, he made ten appearances, six of which were in the league, throughout the season.

Genoa

At the beginning of the 2011–12 season, Merkel joined Genoa in co-ownership with Milan, which, in turn, signed Stephan El Shaarawy in a same type of deal.[12] Merkel made his official debut for the club in 4–3 win over Nocerina in third preliminary round of the Coppa Italia, on 20 August 2011.[13] Made his first assist of the season with a left-footed cross to Marco Rossi in the Juventus 2 - 2 Genoa.

International career

Merkel made his international debut for Germany U-15 in a 4–1 win against Switzerland and has since represented Germany at all levels of youth international football up to under-19. In a December 2010 interview, he stated that he "dreams" of going on to play for the senior team one day.[3]

In another December 2010 interview he said that he is interested in representing Russia.[14] Russian Football Union president Sergey Fursenko and Russia's coach Dick Advocaat both commented saying that he can't be called up as he does not actually possess Russian citizenship. Merkel noted that naturalization should not be a problem, considering that an American-born Jon Robert Holden played for the Russia national basketball team.[15]

In February 2011, Merkel's adviser Arthur Beck, father of German international Andreas Beck, confirmed the player's renewed wishes to be capped for Germany.[16]

Statistics

As of 20 August 2011.

Team Season Domestic
League		 Domestic
Cup		 European
Competition1		 Other
Tournaments2		 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Milan 2009–10 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0
2010–11 6 0 2 1 2 0 – 10 1
Total 6 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 10 1
Genoa 2011–12 4 0 1 0 – – 5 0
Career Total 10 0 3 1 2 0 0 0 15 1

1European competitions include the UEFA Champions League.
2Other tournaments include none to date.

Honours

Club

Milan
2010–11

References

  1. ^ "Doppel-Pass: Moskau lockt "sowjetische" fußballer" (in German). sueddeutsche.de (Süddeutsche Zeitung). 13 January 2011. http://newsticker.sueddeutsche.de/list/id/1095443. Retrieved 13 January 2011. 
  2. ^ a b Peter Staunton (10 August 2010). "Scouting Report: Alexander Merkel - AC Milan". goal.com. http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3276/serie-a/2010/08/07/2060232/goalcom-scouting-report-alexander-merkel-ac-milan. Retrieved 13 December 2010. 
  3. ^ a b "Alexander Merkel: 'Milan ist ein Weltverein'" (in German). dfb.de (Deutscher Fußball-Bund). 16 December 2010. http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500014&tx_dfbnews_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=25886&tx_dfbnews_pi4%5Bcat%5D=70. Retrieved 16 December 2010. 
  4. ^ "E il multietnico Merkel resta in prima squadra" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport: p. 6. 2 August 2010. http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2010/agosto/02/multietnico_Merkel_resta_prima_squadra_ga_10_100802027.shtml. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  5. ^ "Il Milan del futuro vola con Verdi e Zigoni" (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 15 April 2010. http://archiviostorico.gazzetta.it/2010/aprile/15/Milan_del_futuro_vola_con_ga_10_100415017.shtml. Retrieved 15 August 2010. 
  6. ^ Matteo Calcagni (24 October 2009). "Chievo-Milan, i rossoneri convocati: Abate indisponibile, Gattuso ancora out" (in Italian). milannews.it. http://www.milannews.it/?action=read&idnotizia=13194. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  7. ^ Matteo Calcagni (21 November 2009). "I convocati per Milan-Cagliari: Dinho c'é, Flamini out per una distorsione" (in Italian). milannews.it. http://www.milannews.it/?action=read&idnotizia=14093. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  8. ^ Enzo Vasta (12 January 2010). "I convocati contro il Novara: Verdi a disposizione" (in Italian). milannews.it. http://www.milannews.it/?action=read&idnotizia=15993. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  9. ^ "Milan-Ajax". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 December 2010. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/matches/season=2011/round=2000118/match=2002902/index.html. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  10. ^ "Match: Cagliari v AC Milan". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 6 January 2011. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/match?id=304774&cc=5739. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 
  11. ^ "Match: AC Milan v Bari". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 20 January 2011. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/match?id=312103&cc=5739. Retrieved 21 January 2011. 
  12. ^ "Official A.C. Milan press release". acmilan.com (Associazione Calcio Milan). 25 June 2011. http://www.acmilan.com/en/news/breaking_news_show/11659. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
  13. ^ "Il tabellino di Genoa-Nocerina http://www.asgnocerina.it/societa/news/416-il-tabellino-di-genoa-nocerina" (in Italian). asgnocerina.it (Associazione Sportiva Giovanile Nocerina). 20 August 2011. 
  14. ^ "Полузащитник "Милана" Александр Меркель: Хочу сыграть в России на ЧМ-2018" (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 11 December 2010. http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/424082. 
  15. ^ "Про сборную России я уже все сказал!" (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 14 February 2011. http://www.sovsport.ru/gazeta/article-item/436471. 
  16. ^ "Toll! Jungstar Merkel will für Löw spielen" (in German). express.de (Express). 14 February 2011. http://www.express.de/sport/fussball/toll%E2%80%93jungstar-merkel-will-fuer-loew-spielen/-/3186/7193668/-/index.html. Retrieved 18 March 2011. 

External links

Genoa C.F.C. – current squad