Kaan Ayhan (born 10 November 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back or a right back for Super Lig club Galatasaray. Born in Germany, he plays for the Turkey national team.
Ayhan joined Schalke 04's youth academy when he was four years old. On 18 January 2012, he signed a professional contract with Schalke 04 that would last until 30 June 2015. Ayhan was assigned a number 24 shirt. Ayhan made his debut against FC Augsburg in a 4–1 win on 5 October 2013, coming on as a substitute for Adam Szalai. On 3 May 2014, Ayhan scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 13th minute of a 2–0 victory at SC Freiburg.
In January 2016, Ayhan joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan from Schalke for the second half of the season. Frankfurt secured the option of signing him permanently, however, the fixed transfer fee was reported as being too high for a permanent signing to be likely.
On 31 August 2016, Ayhan left Schalke 04 after 17 years at the club to join 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Dusseldorf.
On 13 May 2017 Ayhan scored the third goal in a 3-2 for win over 1. FC Nurnberg, securing the 2017–18 2. Bundesliga title for Fortuna Dusseldorf.
On 16 August 2020, Ayhan joined Serie A club Sassuolo.
On 28 January 2023, Galatasaray announced the official negotiations for the temporary transfer of Kaan Ayhan from Sassuolo till the end of the season. On 30 January 2023, the transfer was confirmed by Sassuolo as an initial loan with an obligation to buy.
Ayhan became a champion in the Super Lig in the 2022–23 season with the Galatasaray team. Defeating Ankaragucu 4–1 away in the match played in the 36th week on 30 May 2023, Galatasaray secured the lead with 2 weeks before the end and won the 23rd championship in its history.
Following the season, it was announced that Galatasaray had triggered the buy option on Ayhan's loan deal at the cost of €2.8 million.
A Turkish-German, Ayhan has been capped by both Germany and Turkey junior national teams. In October 2013, Ayhan was selected for the Turkey under-21 squad. He was called up by manager Fatih Terim for Turkey's friendly match against Russia on 31 August 2016, and subsequent World Cup 2018 qualifier against Croatia. Kaan Ayhan gave his debut for the Turkey national football team on 31 August 2016 in a friendly against Russia. |
