Alexander Merkel
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Merkel | ||
| Date of birth | 22 February 1992 | ||
| Place of birth | Almaty, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Grasshopper (on loan from Udinese) | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| JSG Westerwald | |||
| 2003–2008 | VfB Stuttgart | ||
| 2008–2009 | Milan | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2010–2011 | Milan | 8 | (0) |
| 2011–2013 | Genoa | 19 | (1) |
| 2012 | → Milan (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2013– | Udinese | 5 | (0) |
| 2014 | → Watford (loan) | 11 | (1) |
| 2014– | → Grasshopper (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Germany U15 | 2 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | Germany U16 | 10 | (1) |
| 2008 | Germany U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 2009 | Germany U18 | 2 | (0) |
| 2010–2011 | Germany U19 | 2 | (1) |
| 2011 | Germany U20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2015– | Kazakhstan | 0 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 October 2014. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Alexander Merkel (Kazakh: Александр Меркель; born 22 February 1992) is a Kazakh football player of German descent who plays as a midfielder for Swiss Super League club Grasshopper on loan from Udinese.
Club career
Early career
Born in Kazakhstan to parents of German ancestry,[2] Merkel moved to Germany with them in 1998, aged 6.[3] There he started playing football with amateur team JSG Westerwald, before joining VfB Stuttgart at the age of 11.[4]
Milan
In 2008, at age 16, Merkel transferred to Italian side Milan.[5] 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.[6]
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.[7][8][9] At the beginning of the following season, he took part in some pre-season games, putting up good performances.[3] 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[10] on 6 January 2011, he also made his league debut, figuring in the starting line-up for a match against Cagliari.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] Merkel made his first assist of the season with a left-footed cross to Marco Rossi in the Juventus 2 – 2 Genoa match. On 17 January 2012 he returned to Milan on loan from Genoa. He made his official re-debut wearing Milan's red-black shirt on 18 January, winning 2–1 over Novara in the 16th round of the 2011–12 Coppa Italia. Genoa bought the remaining 50% of his rights on 23 May 2012 making him a full Genoa player.[15]
Udinese
Merkel joined Udinese Calcio on 5 January 2013, signing a five-year contract.
Watford
On 3 January 2014, Merkel joined Watford on loan from Udinese until the end of the season.[16]
Merkel made his debut from the start in a 1-0 defeat to Reading on 11 January 2014, but he was sent off in second half stoppage time after a lunge on Nick Blackman. Merkel scored his first goal for Watford in a 3-0 home win against Barnsley on 15 March 2014.
Grasshopper
On 14 July 2014, Merkel signed for Grasshopper Zürich on a season long loan deal from parent club Udinese.[17]
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.[4]
In another December 2010 interview he said that he is interested in representing Russia.[18] 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.[19]
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.[20]
In March 2015, Merkel decided to play for Kazakhstan national football team.[21]
Statistics
- As of 27 October 2014.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Milan | 2010–11 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| Total | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | |
| Genoa | 2011–12 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 14 | 0 | |
| 2012–13 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 7 | 1 | ||
| Total | 19 | 1 | 2 | 0 | – | 21 | 1 | ||
| Milan (loan) | 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Udinese | 2012–13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | |
| 2013–14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| Watford (loan) | 2013–14 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 | 1 | |
| Total | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | 11 | 1 | ||
| Grasshopper (loan) | 2014–15 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| Total | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Career Total | 48 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 61 | 3 | |
Honours
Club
- Milan
References
- ↑ http://www.gcz.ch/1-mannschaft/kader/kader-mittelfeld/13abc1f1efd10a7ea4cbde5197788fe5/?cfc_league_fe%5BprofileId%5D=1531
- ↑ "Doppel-Pass: Moskau lockt "sowjetische" fußballer". sueddeutsche.de (in German) (Süddeutsche Zeitung). 13 January 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Peter Staunton (10 August 2010). "Scouting Report: Alexander Merkel – AC Milan". goal.com. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Alexander Merkel: 'Milan ist ein Weltverein'". dfb.de (in German) (Deutscher Fußball-Bund). 16 December 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
- ↑ "E il multietnico Merkel resta in prima squadra". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 2 August 2010. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ↑ "Il Milan del futuro vola con Verdi e Zigoni". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 15 April 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
- ↑ Matteo Calcagni (24 October 2009). "Chievo-Milan, i rossoneri convocati: Abate indisponibile, Gattuso ancora out". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ↑ Matteo Calcagni (21 November 2009). "I convocati per Milan-Cagliari: Dinho c'é, Flamini out per una distorsione". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ↑ Enzo Vasta (12 January 2010). "I convocati contro il Novara: Verdi a disposizione". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ↑ "Milan-Ajax". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
- ↑ "Match: Cagliari v AC Milan". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ↑ "Match: AC Milan v Bari". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 20 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
- ↑ "Official A.C. Milan press release". acmilan.com (Associazione Calcio Milan). 25 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
- ↑ "Il tabellino di Genoa-Nocerina". asgnocerina.it (in Italian) (Associazione Sportiva Giovanile Nocerina). 20 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
- ↑ "El Shaarawy-Milan: le cifre dell'operazione". milannews.it (in Italian) (milannews.it). 23 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
- ↑ http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/140103-ranegie-merkel-signings-1269963.aspx
- ↑ http://www.wiesbadener-kurier.de/sport/national-und-international/fussball/auslandsfussball/merkel-wechselt-zu-grasshopper-zuerich_14328564.htm
- ↑ Полузащитник "Милана" Александр Меркель: Хочу сыграть в России на ЧМ-2018 (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 11 December 2010.
- ↑ Про сборную России я уже все сказал! (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 14 February 2011.
- ↑ "Toll! Jungstar Merkel will für Löw spielen". express.de (in German) (Express). 14 February 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
- ↑ "Toll!Merkel will für Kasachstan kicken". de.sputniknews.com (in German) (sputniknews). 2 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
External links
- Profile at Assocalciatori.it (Italian)
| ||||||