On 3 July 2014 Liverpool completed the signing of Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen, triggering a release clause worth £9.75 million (around €12 million). The deal took a midfielder from Frankfurt out of the Bundesliga and into the Premier League, where he spent four seasons before moving on to Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. Born in Frankfurt am Main on 12 January 1994 and of Turkish descent, Can has played mainly as a defensive midfielder or centre-back, although over his career he has also been used at full-back and on the wing. He is a senior Germany international.
Early years in Frankfurt and Munich
Can started out at SV Blau-Gelb Frankfurt in 2000 and joined the Eintracht Frankfurt academy in 2006. In 2009 he moved to Bavaria to join Bayern Munich’s youth system, eventually reaching the reserve side: for Bayern Munich II he made 31 appearances and scored three goals. At the same time he came through Germany’s youth teams. He was runner-up at the 2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, where he was named in the team of the tournament, and that same year captained Germany to third place at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. In 2011 he also received the gold Fritz Walter Medal in the under-17 category.
Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen
His first-team debut for Bayern came in the 2012 DFL-Supercup. He made his Bundesliga debut against 1. FC Nürnberg on 13 April 2013 and scored his only league goal for the club on 27 April 2013, in a 1-0 home win over SC Freiburg. He was part of the squad in 2012-13, when Bayern won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League. On 2 August 2013 he signed a four-year deal with Bayer Leverkusen. In his only season there he scored four goals in 39 matches in all competitions, form that soon earned him a move to England.
Four seasons at Liverpool
At Anfield Can was tried in several positions before settling in central midfield. In 2016 he played in two finals and lost both: the Football League Cup final against Manchester City and the Europa League final against Sevilla. On 1 May 2017 his overhead kick gave Liverpool a 1-0 win at Watford, a goal that won both the BBC’s Match of the Day and the Premier League Goal of the Season awards. In 2017-18 Liverpool reached the Champions League final in Kyiv, where Can came off the bench in the 83rd minute of the 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid. He finished his spell with 166 appearances and 14 goals in all competitions, 115 and 10 of them in the Premier League, and left in 2018 when his contract expired.
Juventus
On 21 June 2018 Can signed a four-year deal with Juventus, arriving on a free transfer. In Turin he won Serie A in 2018-19 and 2019-20 as well as the 2018 Supercoppa Italiana, making 45 appearances and scoring four goals. In January 2023 he disclosed that he had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer before joining Juventus and had undergone surgery in October 2018.
Borussia Dortmund
On 31 January 2020 Borussia Dortmund announced his arrival on loan. He made his debut on 8 February 2020 and scored in a 4-3 defeat away to Bayer Leverkusen, his former club. On 18 February 2020 the move was made permanent for a fee of €25 million on a four-year contract. He won the DFB-Pokal in 2020-21 and in July 2023 was named club captain, succeeding Marco Reus. Wearing the armband, he played in the 2024 Champions League final at Wembley, which Dortmund lost 2-0 to Real Madrid.
Germany national team
Although eligible for Turkey through his family, Can chose Germany. After the youth sides he played at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, starting all four matches before Germany lost the semi-final to Portugal. His senior debut came on 4 September 2015 in a 3-1 win over Poland in Frankfurt, his home city. At Euro 2016 he played once, in the 2-0 semi-final defeat to France. In 2017 he won the FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, appearing in all five of Germany’s matches, and on 8 October 2017 he scored his first senior goal in a 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Azerbaijan. He was also named in the squad for Euro 2020. On 12 June 2024 he was called up for Euro 2024 as a replacement for the injured Aleksandar Pavlović, and two days later scored Germany’s fifth goal in the 5-1 opening win over Scotland in Munich.
Borussia Dortmund