Mehmet Can Aydın

Mehmet Can Aydın spent more than a decade inside German academy football before he ever kicked a ball in the Bundesliga. He moved through the youth ranks at Borussia Mönchengladbach and then Schalke 04, and in 2021 he finally stepped onto a Bundesliga pitch for Schalke's first team — the 36th player in the club's history to make that particular debut. The following season brought a 2. Bundesliga title with Schalke, though a thigh injury picked up in training in January 2022 interrupted his progress at the club.

His form at Schalke was enough to earn a call-up to Turkey's senior national side in March 2023 for European Championship qualifiers, even though he did not get onto the pitch. Earlier in his youth career he had represented Germany at several age levels, from under-15 through to under-20, scoring in both his U15 and U19 appearances.

After his contract at Schalke ran its course, Aydın joined Eintracht Braunschweig as a free agent in the summer of 2025. He needed no time to settle in: on his debut for the club, away to Magdeburg, with Braunschweig down to ten men, he struck a 32-metre effort that proved to be the winner in a 1-0 victory. It was the kind of moment that instantly changes how a new signing is regarded by supporters — a goal from distance, in a match his side were forced to see out a man short.