A Turkish attacking midfielder who was released in the summer by the French side Lille, married the beautiful Melisa Asli Pamuk, a Dutch-Turkish actress, and did not want to move too far from his beloved homeland. During his tenure at Lille, Yazici played in a total of 42 games, 27 of which in Ligue 1 and 10 in the Conference League and ended the year with 12 goals and four assists.

Yusuf Yazici was born in Trabzon on January 29, 1997 and is a product of Trabzonspor's academy. He signed his first professional contract with his hometown team on December 21, 2015, and made his official debut in a Turkish league match on February 2, 2016.

His side's comprehensive victory over Rizespor on 8 May that year is etched in his memory, as he scored his maiden two goals while providing two assists.

In fact, he also became the youngest footballer to score a goal in the Turkish league that season, aged just 19. He finished his first professional season with 9 appearances.

In the period that followed some transfer scenarios surrounding the name of a teammate, they were to play an important role in Yazici's development as well. Trabzonspor decided to let Mehmet Ekici train on his own due to the specific scenarios and the club's coach, Ersun Yanal, gave the then-youngster Turko Yazici a chance.

Yusuf grabbed the opportunity by the hair and with 22 appearances and 6 goals in all competitions, he established himself. In fact, he was also rewarded with a new contract that provided for earnings of 250,000 Turkish liras (10,628 euros).

His development was such that in a game against Galatasaray, which ended in a 2-0 victory for Trabzonspor, Manchester United had to send a "spy" to watch the young footballer closely.

The big jump

The big if, Yazici was supposed to do in the 2017/18 season. His numbers reflect his performance in the most convincing way, since he recorded a total of 35 appearances in which he achieved 10 goals and 5 assists.

In fact, in January 2018, UEFA included him in the top 50 talents to watch out for. The first hat trick that Milan received after Rivaldo!

Yazici's impressive performances continued in the 2018/19 season and resulted in the footballer being transferred to Lille in the summer of 2019, becoming the most expensive sale in Trabzonspor's history for a fee of €17.5 million.

In the fall of 2020, the Turkish international footballer made hat-tricks a habit in the UEFA Europa League. He scored his first in the French side's 4-1 away win against Sparta Prague on 22 October 2020. But he saved his best for a few weeks later.

Specifically, on November 5, he scored all three goals in Lille's great victory at San Siro against Milan 3-0. In fact, this was the first hat-trick that the "Rossoneri" received at home in all competitions after one by Rivaldo in the Barcelona jersey in 2000!

In January 2022, Yazici was loaned to Russian club CSKA Moscow. In fact, he scored on his debut with his new team, in the derby of the capital against Spartak, as well as in the 5 games that followed.

In fact, in the fourth game in a row, with the hat trick he achieved against Rubin Kazan, he became the first player in the history of the Russian League to score in his first four games with the jersey of one team. Ultimately, the counter was supposed to stop at 6!

At the international level, Yazici made his debut in the Turkish men's national team in 2017 and since then he has made 45 appearances, scoring 3 goals.

Undoubtedly, this is a first-class addition of the "red and whites" who, if he does not have a problem of adaptation or with some injury, then he can help Olympiakos a lot both in the Greek Super League, and then in Europe...