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The Signing of Samed Yesil
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Samed Yesil is one of Germany's most promising young strikers.
Brendan Rodgers secured the teenager's services from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2012.
Born into a Turkish family in Dusseldorf, the striker was earmarked as an exciting prospect following a series of impressive performances at the U17 World Cup in 2011.
Yesil cut his teeth as a youngster with local clubs CfR Links and BV 04 Dusseldorf before joining Bundesliga heavyweights Leverkusen in 2005, where he would remain for seven years.
A prolific scorer among the youth divisions in his home country, Yesil's reputation grew with each goal and teammates began to nickname the prodigy 'Gerd' after the legendary German striker Gerd Muller.
Promoted rapidly through the youth ranks of the German national set-up, it was for the U17 team under former Tottenham midfielder Steffen Freund that Yesil began to make a serious mark.
Three goals at the U17 European Championship in May 2011 helped Germany secure second place but were merely a precursor to a sensational three weeks at the U17 World Cup the following month.
Beginning the tournament with a brace in a 6-1 victory over Ecuador, Yesil was a star turn in Mexico throughout the competition. The attacker was on target again as USA were eliminated in the last 16.
England fans may have had their first glimpse of him in the subsequent quarter-final as the striker left a lasting impression, tapping home from close range twice as the Germans ran out 3-2 winners.
His sixth goal arrived during their semi-final defeat by hosts Mexico, who would go on to win the tournament, but Freund's youngsters capped a strong campaign by claiming third place.
With Leverkusen suffering a turbulent season in 2011-12, first-team chances were scarce for Yesil, who had stayed with the Bundesliga side during the summer despite reported interest from a host of European clubs.
But a managerial change in April 2012 - which involved former Red Sami Hyypia taking the reins - saw the then 17-year-old make his debut as a substitute against Hertha Berlin.
It would prove to be Yesil's only appearance for the German side, as Rodgers identified the striker as an ideal candidate to join his project at Anfield.
Then on the 3rd July 2012 Rodgers let the young German Forward return to Bundesliga and link up with former Red Didi Hamman's Gladbach side.
Hamman" Yesil is a very young skilled and gifted player that can play upfront or in the hole, he will be very much part of the first team here and hopefully will guide us to a execellent seasona s he will partner Luuk De Jong Upfront". Gladbach now posses three of the hottest German Youngsters with ter Stegen (Next Oliver Kahn) Samed Yesil (Next Gerd Muller) and Patrick Herrmann next (Günter Netzer)
