Top scorer from the Ruhr area

Kerem Demirbay is the sort of person devoted to his roots. Indeed following his house hunting search after his move to TSG in the summer, the phrase went: “You can take Kerem out of the Ruhr, but you can’t take the Ruhr out of Kerem.” In the end he decided upon Mannhein, a town with a special charm which isn’t immediately recognisable to everyone.

However, as someone with a keen eye for a town’s special characteristics, Demirbay was immediately convinced. “The town is multicultural and there is a lot going on, just like in the Ruhr. I like the outdoors and have no problems with talking to other people. Respect and honour are very important qualities for me and I was brought up with these values. That’s why I am friendly to everyone that is nice to me.”

Fully focused on TSG

The 23-year-old grew up in Gelsenkirchen-Buer, Essen and Oberhausen. From childhood, Demirbay is a bit of an enthusiast of every region in which he stayed. On his search for a house in Hoffenheim, he thought about his friends and family and the home comforts from his childhood. He never once thought about moving to the countryside. “People who came round to our house back home were a bit more open than the people here. When I have visitors round, everyone should have a good time and nobody should feel left out.

Demirbay is enjoying his time in his new home, with the Kraichgau region making a big difference towards this. The midfielder has got to know and appreciate the region very well, including the training ground in Zuzenhausen, the origins of the club in Hoffenheim and the stadium in Sinsheim. After just three months with Hoffenheim, Demirbay feels right at home. “I’ve got a place to stay, I’m playing for the team and can fully concentrate on my game. It’s a great feeling.”

The focus on football is the basis for his good form. The new arrival leaves no doubt as to the fact that Julian Nagelsmann’s training session are as much about having a rested mind as a rested body. There is a lot of competition for places and training is challenging. Nevertheless, Demirbay is enjoying the competition, the challenge and the highlights from the weekends. He had to be patient for his first opportunity in the Bundesliga and fulfil his childhood dream.

Legendary football challenges on holiday

Demirbay started to earn money through football from an early age – during his yearly holidays to Turkey. As a teenager, he often visited the carnival in the town of Devrek, where he has since had wells built and donates footballs and shoes. As a small boy, his parents’ home town in the Turkish province of Zonguldak on the Black Sea offered a special attraction – a somewhat different kind of football shooting challenge.

He fondly remembers, “a young boy stood in the goal made out of wood, it was 17 meters wide and 20 meters high. It was actually impossible not to score, although they said the penalty spot was from eleven meters, it was at least 35.” He laughs, tilting his head towards the ceiling before continuing. “It was really cool, you paid two Euros for three shots and if you scored all three, you won five Euros or a small packet of cigarettes. As a twelve year old I won things there and as I got older, 17 or 18, I kept on playing.”

But then his fun was suddenly over as he was banned from playing the game. “The owner of the game became sour. He replaced the proper footballs with flat plastic ones but I continued to score, then he said to me ‘you can’t play the game anymore, go away.’ He was really annoyed, even though I always gave my prize money to the young goalkeeper.”

Starting out in Germany

At this time, he was already well-known in Gelsenkirchen. Kerem was playing for the FC Schalke 04 youth team with a certain Julian Draxler. “We played together and in the youth team we had a great partnership. Whenever we played another team, they’d just think – we’re playing against Julian and Kerem. Him in front of me, me behind him, we destroyed everyone – it was a super time.” But the deadly duo went their separate ways, Demirbay went to Dortmund where he rejected a professional contract under Jürgen Klopp and transferred to Hamburger SV.

Instead of being a starter for HSV, he moved around Germany. His work and travelling took him to Kaiserlautern and then to Düsseldorf, trading top-flight football for the 2. Bundesliga, skill and flair for hard-hitting scrappy football. Despite dropping down a level, Demirbay looks back at these years where he learnt so much very fondly. “Those couple of years were good for me and my development. I came a long way from just casually playing and kicking a ball about. It made me get my head down, show real presence and build myself up physically, which all helped me a lot. Of course I would have liked to have made my breakthrough earlier but now I’ve made it here and I’m really happy about it.”

However Demirbay is not just content with finally being able to play in the Bundesliga. He is hugely motivated to prove himself to his family, himself and to silence his former critics. “I’ve worked for this for a long time and there are still some people who will have a dig at me. I am where I wanted to get to and now my aim is to reach the top.” The road has not always been straightforward for Demirbay but he never lost sight of his ambitions. As Demirbay explains, “I tried to tell my father even when I was just ten years old that I can’t to any homework because I want to become a professional footballer. That always led to big arguments at home but now he has accepted it. For me there was never anything else I wanted to do.”