Alexander Merkel

Alexander Merkel (Kazakh: Александр Меркель; born 22 February 1992) is a Kazakh-German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi Professional League club Al-Faisaly[2] and Kazakhstan national football team.

Alexander Merkel
Merkel playing for Admira Wacker in 2018
Personal information
Full name Alexander Merkel
Date of birth (1992-02-22) 22 February 1992
Place of birth Almaty, Kazakhstan
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Al-Faisaly
Number 52
Youth career
1999 Okzhetpes
1999–2003 JSG Westerwald
2003–2008 VfB Stuttgart
2008–2009 Milan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Milan 6 (0)
2011–2013 Genoa 19 (1)
2012 → Milan (loan) 1 (0)
2013–2016 Udinese 6 (0)
2014 → Watford (loan) 11 (1)
2014–2015 → Grasshopper (loan) 6 (0)
2016 Pisa 0 (0)
2016–2018 VfL Bochum 13 (0)
2018 Admira Wacker 15 (1)
2018–2020 Heracles Almelo 59 (2)
2020– Al-Faisaly 0 (0)
National team‡
2007 Germany U15 2 (0)
2007–2008 Germany U16 15 (1)
2008 Germany U17 3 (0)
2009 Germany U18 2 (0)
2010–2011 Germany U19 2 (1)
2011 Germany U20 1 (0)
2015– Kazakhstan 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 7 July 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21 March 2019

Club career

Early career

Born in Kazakhstan to parents of German ancestry,[3] Merkel moved to Germany in 1998, aged 6.[4] There he started playing football with amateur team JSG Westerwald, before joining VfB Stuttgart at the age of 11.[5]

Milan

In 2008, at age 16, Merkel transferred to Italian side Milan.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8][9][10] At the beginning of the following season, he took part in some pre-season games, putting up good performances.[4] 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 Kevin-Prince Boateng[11] on 6 January 2011, he also made his league debut, figuring in the starting line-up for a match against Cagliari.[12] 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.[13] 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, for €5 million, which, in turn, signed Stephan El Shaarawy in a same type of deal, for €10 million.[14][15] 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.[16] 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 for another €5 million on 23 May 2012 making him a full Genoa player, as well as El Shaarawy moved to Milan for another €10 million.[17][18]

Udinese

On 3 January 2013 50% registration rights of Merkel (€4 million) and Masahudu Alhassan (€1.5 million) were sold to Udinese Calcio for a total of €5.5 million, as part of Antonio Floro Flores's deal.[19] In June 2013 Udinese acquired them outright for another €1.78 million (€1.16 million and €620,000).[19]

Watford (loan)

On 3 January 2014, Merkel joined Watford on loan from Udinese until the end of the season.[20]

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 (loan)

On 14 July 2014, Merkel signed for Grasshopper Zürich on a season long loan deal from parent club Udinese.[21]

Pisa

On 21 July 2016, Merkel joined his former Milan teammate Gennaro Gattuso, who served as manager at Pisa. However, after Gattuso suddenly left the club on 31 July 2016, Merkel was released by the club on 14 August 2016.[22]

VfL Bochum

On 15 August 2016, Merkel signed with Bochum.[23]

Admira Wacker

On 5 February 2018, Merkel signed with Austrian club Admira Wacker.[24] He signed his first goal in the match against Wolfsberger AC.

Heracles Almelo

On 29 July 2018, Merkel signed with Eredivisie side Heracles Almelo.[25]

Al-Faisaly

On 14 September 2020, Merkel signed with Saudi Professional League club Al-Faisaly.[26]

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.[5]

In another December 2010 interview he said that he is interested in representing Russia.[27] 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.[28]

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.[29]

In March 2015, Merkel decided to play for Kazakhstan national football team. He made his debut against Iceland in a qualifying match for Euro 2016.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 27 May 2018[22]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Milan 2010–11 Serie A 60212[lower-alpha 1]0101
Genoa 2011–12 Serie A 13010—140
2012–13 6110—71
Total 1912000211
Milan (loan) 2011–12 Serie A 10200030
Udinese 2012–13 Serie A 5000—50
2013–14 0000—00
Total 50000050
Watford 2013–14 Championship 11100—111
Grasshopper 2014–15 Super League 60203[lower-alpha 2]0110
Udinese 2015–16 Serie A 1000—10
Pisa 2016–17 Serie B 0000—00
VfL Bochum 2016–17 2. Bundesliga 11000—110
2017–18 2010—30
Total 1301000142
Admira Wacker 2017–18 Bundesliga 15100—151
Career total 7739150914
  1. Appearances in the Champions League
  2. One appearance in the Champions League and two in the Europa League

International
As of match played 24 March 2019[30]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Kazakhstan 201510
201920
Total30

References
  1. http://www.gcz.ch/1-mannschaft/kader/kader-mittelfeld/13abc1f1efd10a7ea4cbde5197788fe5/?cfc_league_fe%5BprofileId%5D=1531
  2. Alexander Merkel at WorldFootball.net
  3. "Doppel-Pass: Moskau lockt "sowjetische" fußballer". sueddeutsche.de (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  4. Peter Staunton (10 August 2010). "Scouting Report: Alexander Merkel – AC Milan". goal.com. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
  5. "Alexander Merkel: 'Milan ist ein Weltverein'". dfb.de (in German). Deutscher Fußball-Bund. 16 December 2010. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  6. "E il multietnico Merkel resta in prima squadra". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 2 August 2010. p. 6. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  7. "Il Milan del futuro vola con Verdi e Zigoni". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 15 April 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  8. Matteo Calcagni (24 October 2009). "Chievo-Milan, i rossoneri convocati: Abate indisponibile, Gattuso ancora out". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  9. 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.
  10. Enzo Vasta (12 January 2010). "I convocati contro il Novara: Verdi a disposizione". milannews.it (in Italian). Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  11. "Milan-Ajax". uefa.com. Union of European Football Associations. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  12. "Match: Cagliari v AC Milan". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 6 January 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  13. "Match: AC Milan v Bari". ESPNsoccernet. ESPN. 20 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  14. "Relazione e Bilancio al 31 Dicembre 2011" (PDF) (in Italian). AC Milan. 25 June 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. "Official A.C. Milan press release". acmilan.com. Associazione Calcio Milan. 25 June 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  16. "Il tabellino di Genoa-Nocerina". asgnocerina.it (in Italian). Associazione Sportiva Giovanile Nocerina. 20 August 2011. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  17. "El Shaarawy-Milan: le cifre dell'operazione". milannews.it (in Italian). milannews.it. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  18. "Relazione e Bilancio al 31 Dicembre 2012" (PDF) (in Italian). AC Milan. 26 June 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  19. Genoa CFC SpA bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2013 (in Italian), PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA (in Italian)
  20. "Archived item". Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  21. http://www.wiesbadener-kurier.de/sport/national-und-international/fussball/auslandsfussball/merkel-wechselt-zu-grasshopper-zuerich_14328564.htm
  22. "Alexander Merkel" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  23. "VfL verpflichtet Alexander Merkel" (in German). VfL Bochum. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
  24. "Merkel signed with Admira Wacker". Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  25. "Merkel signed with Heracles Almelo". Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  26. "Merkel signed with Al-Faisaly". Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  27. Полузащитник "Милана" Александр Меркель: Хочу сыграть в России на ЧМ-2018 (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 11 December 2010.
  28. Про сборную России я уже все сказал! (in Russian). Sovetsky Sport. 14 February 2011.
  29. "Toll! Jungstar Merkel will für Löw spielen". express.de (in German). Express. 14 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  30. "Merkel, Alexander". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  • Profile at Assocalciatori.it (in Italian)
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