"Been a victim" - Promising Stoke City player tipped for surprise transfer exit to Türkiye | OneFootball

Many Stoke fans expected Emre Tezgel to be a first-team regular by now, but his career hasn't taken off just yet

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

With a Category One academy system, Stoke City are up their with the elite of English youth football, with their Clayton Wood facilities helping to produce and develop some talented players.

The likes of Nathan Collins, Tyrese Campbell, Martin Paterson, Ryan Shotton and Richard Keogh are among some that have come through within the last 20 years and played regular Championship or Premier League football, and the latest line of Potters youngsters are starting to do the same.

We have seen Nathan Lowe produce a stunning half-season in League Two with Walsall in 2024-25 before returning to be a part of Mark Robins' squad, whilst teenage midfielder Sol Sidibe - son of ex-City striker Mamady - has already played 12 times in the Championship, and last year was linked with Chelsea, AC Milan and Rangers.

Perhaps though the player that many Stoke fans expected to break through and be a regular by now was striker Emre Tezgel, and he has a very uncertain contract situation at the bet365 Stadium.

Promising striker Emre Tezgel tipped to move on from Stoke City this summer

Burton-born Tezgel first emerged onto the radar back in the 2020-21 season, scoring seven times in Stoke's under-18's Premier League campaign when he was just 15, and on the back of that he was linked with the likes of Man United and Chelsea.

Tezgel stuck with Stoke though and continued to fire in the goals at youth level, eventually making a first-team debut at the age of 16 in January 2022 in an FA Cup clash with Leyton Orient, before going on to sign scholarship terms and eventually a professional deal.

First-team chances have been few and far between for Tezgel though - he made his Championship debut in January 2023, but was then sent on loan to League Two side MK Dons for the final few months of 2023-24, having failed to make a league appearance under Alex Neil and Steven Schumacher.

Six goal contributions in 17 matches for the Dons later, Tezgel was back at Stoke, and in the 2024-25 season he did appear 12 times in the second tier, albeit just twice under Mark Robins before spending the rest of the campaign in the under-21's, where a run of eight goals in four matches saw him clearly being too good for the Premier League 2 competition, yet perhaps not quite there when it comes to Championship action.

Stoke's recent retained list saw Tezgel offered a new contract, but it's yet to be determined as to whether he will sign that just yet - FLW's Potters fan pundit Daniel Buxton believes though that the 19-year-old will walk away from the club, and has made a bold transfer prediction that he will end up in the Turkish Super Lig, with the youngster holding roots in the country through his father's family.

City of course would be entitled to compensation if Tezgel did depart, but they'd receive less if the striker went overseas as opposed to another English club.

"I would love Emre to sign a new contract," Daniel told FLW.

"I think his under-21's form recently is him just reminding everybody of his talents. He hasn't been able to show them in the first-team setting, possibly due to the fact his contract has been running out and maybe there's been a bit of a dispute there.

"I would expect him to leave this summer though, and I think he wants to progress.

"I think he maybe feels a bit stagnant - he was training with the first-team when he was 15, he's now at the end of his teenage years and he's not really progressed that far, I think that's maybe how he's looking at it.

"He's maybe been a victim of us not having a lot of cover in striker areas, but having enough to not give him the chances. Obviously the constant turnover of managers means he has to reset as a young player - every time he gets a managers trust, they're out the door, and he's back behind the tried and trusted older pros, and the younger lads have to earn the trust again.

"I think that's been a big problem for him - he missed nearly a whole year with injuries, that didn't help. I think you'll see him playing in the Turkish league next season - just a hunch."

Stoke City may regret not giving Emre Tezgel a better platform to develop

As Daniel said, given the fact Tezgel had been around the first-team since he was 15 and made his debut at a young age, you'd perhaps expect him to be a regular part of the club's Championship squad.

However, he has never had a starting run of games and has only been really able to grab game-time in cameos in league action - he could have really done with a loan move to League One as well last summer.

We've seen how Nathan Lowe did at Walsall in the first half of the season, and that could have been Tezgel if he was given the chance to get out there and play regularly - it just didn't happen though, and even though he showed his scoring capabilities in the under-21's in a ridiculous streak of form, he couldn't force his way back into Mark Robins' plans.

Daniel's Türkiye transfer prediction is an interesting one but it could be plausible, given his links to the country and how they've tried to get him to play international football there, but whatever the case, if he turns down a new deal then he could be the one that ended up getting away for Stoke.