Mehmet Topal

Mehmet Topal

Personal information
Full name	Mehmet Topal
Date of birth	(1986-03-03) 3 March 1986 (age 26)
Place of birth	Malatya, Turkey
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Valencia
Number	5
Youth career
1999–2002	Yeni Malatyaspor
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2006	Dardanelspor	42	(4)
2006–2010	Galatasaray	82	(2)
2010–	Valencia	43	(1)
National team‡
2005	Turkey U19	1	(0)
2006	Turkey U20	1	(0)
2006–2007	Turkey U21	13	(1)
2008–	Turkey	24	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 May 2012. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2010

Mehmet Topal (born March 3, 1986 in Malatya, Turkey) is a Turkish footballer who plays for Valencia CF in the Spanish La liga. He is a defensive midfielder and has the nickname of Örümcek (Spider), due to his ability to use his long legs to win loose balls or cut out passes.^[1]

Club career

Galatasaray

He joined Galatasaray in September 2006 at the age of 20, having previous played for second tier club Dardanelspor for four seasons. He played sporadically in his first season with Gala, making only a handful of appearances. He has signed to Galatasaray together with Junichi Inamoto.

Due to an injury to Swedish international Tobias Linderoth, Topal was handed his chance in the first team. He became first choice in the line up, due to the continued injury of his team mate. Topal was very grateful for the help the Swede gave him, saying "He helped me a lot, told me about the areas I should improve and how to do so. Sadly, I got my chance through his injury but I want him to recover in the shortest time possible."^[2]

In April 2008 he extended his contract with Galatasaray for five years and is due to expire in May 2013. At the end of the 2007–08 season, he won the Süper Lig title with Galatasaray and was called up to Turkey's Euro 2008 squad.

In the summer 2008 transfer window, there were rumours surrounding a move to Everton in the Premier League, with David Moyes apparently keen to bring Topal to Goodison Park. However, it is believed that Galatasaray resisted the move.^[3][4][5]

Topal has spent the early part of the 2009–10 season out of action with an injury but still playing in Valencia as proud of Galatasaray.

Valencia

After speculation throughout the season of Topal's departure from Galatasaray, he officially signed for Valencia on 12 May 2010 for a fee believed to be in the region of €5.5M.^[6]

On 14 September 2010, Topal made his debut against Bursaspor in the UEFA Champions League group stage match. He scored his first goal for Valencia against Sporting Gijón on September 25, 2010.^[7]

On 17 February 2012, Topal scored the winner against Stoke in a UEFA Europa League first leg match. The goal, from almost 30 yards out, was widely spoken about as one of the best goals of the tournament.

Playing style

Capable of playing as a central defender, defensive midfielder or on the right side of midfield as well, Topal can use both feet, is calm under pressure and possesses a fierce shot from distance.

Career statistics

As of 5 May 2012

Honours

Galatasaray

• Turkish League: Champion (2007–08)
• Turkish Super Cup: Winner (2008)

References

External links

• Valencia official profile
• BDFutbol profile
• Statistics at TFF.org (Turkish)
• Transfermarkt profile
• Mehmet Topal – FIFA competition record
• Mehmet Topal at National-Football-Teams.com
• Mehmet Topal career stats at Soccerbase
• Ciberche stats and bio (Spanish)

v t e Turkey squad – UEFA Euro 2008 semi-finalists 1 Rüştü 2 Çetin 3 Balta 4 Gökhan Zan 5 Emre 6 Mehmet Topal 7 Mehmet Aurélio 8 Nihat 9 Semih 10 Karadeniz 11 Metin 12 Zengin 13 E. Güngör 14 Arda 15 E. Aşık 16 Boral 17 Tuncay 18 Kazim-Richards 19 Akman 20 Sabri 21 Erdinç 22 Hamit Altıntop 23 Demirel Coach: Terim