In his home country, Zidan Sertdemir is considered the exceptional talent in his year and was already nominated for the Danish U-19 national team as a 16-year-old before his Bundesliga debut in Berlin. The left-footer is a footballing fine spirit with a physical backlog.
Since Sunday, he is a record holder. With his five-minute wild card appearance in the match against Hertha BSC (1:1), Zidan Sertdemir entered the history books as the second-youngest Bundesliga player. Within the club, the Dane is the youngest player ever to play in Germany’s top division. At 16 years and 276 days.
He already set another record in the summer. The Danish U-17 international has since become the most expensive young player in Leverkusen’s club history. In the end, Bayer 04 will have transferred a package totalling around two million euros to FC Nordsjaelland if Sertdemir becomes a permanent fixture with the professionals.
There is much to suggest that these two exclamation marks will not remain the only ones for the central midfielder. After all, the left-footer is considered an exceptional talent, just like his team-mate and Spanish U-17 international striker Iker Bravo, who is almost the same age.
Away ahead of most of his opponents
Sertdemir is a fine footballing mind, technically gifted, a skilful dribbler with as good an eye and pull towards goal as Iker Bravo, who stands out in the U-19 Bundesliga. Although he is one of the youngest, he is far ahead of most of his counterparts in terms of development. There, it seems as if his first name is programme, despite a missing E at the end. In Leverkusen, they know that they have landed two exceptional talents in Zidan Sertdemir and Iker Bravo. “As a young player, you have to have strong skills. They both have that,” says professional coach Gerardo Seoane.
In Sertdemir’s case, this also lies in his game intelligence. “He has a very good understanding of the game,” praises sport director Simon Rolfes. “With Zidan, you can see his good positional play between the lines,” Seoane classifies the combination-strong technician, “but he still lacks the physicality.” A body weight of 71 kilograms and a height of 182 centimetres are not below average for a 16-year-old, but in everyday professional life, where Sertdemir is sometimes pushed aside, there is still room for improvement.
Sertdemir should be allowed to develop in peace
Nonetheless, the Danish U-17 international, who has now even been nominated for the U-19s in his homeland, was in Leverkusen’s Bundesliga line-up for the first time on matchday 8 against Bayern Munich. His debut followed in Berlin due to the extreme shortage of personnel. Once the personnel situation at Bayer has eased again with eight acute absentees, however, the Dane with Turkish roots will preferably find himself back in Bayer’s U 19. Like the other 16-year-old making his professional debut, Iker Bravo, Zidan Sertdemir should basically develop in peace.
In other words, he should train with the professionals and gain regular playing practice in Leverkusen’s U-19 Bundesliga team as well as in the national team. “We want them to play a lot in the U-19s,” says sporting director Simon Rolfes, explaining why the duo are also missing from Leverkusen’s 20-man squad for the Bundesliga in case of doubt.
Like Iker Bravo, Sertdemir is not eligible to play in the Europa League anyway. To be nominated via the B-list as a 16-year-old, a player must have spent at least two years playing for his club in the youth system. And that Seoane will sacrifice one of his seasoned professionals from the A-list in the winter to nominate Zidan Sertdemir or Iker Bravo is not to be expected, despite their outstanding talent.