Efe Sarıkaya (born 30 November 2005) is a Turkish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for French club

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

Club career

Born in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, Sarıkaya began his footballing career with

Altay Altai or Altay may refer to: Places *Altai Mountains, in Central and East Asia, a region shared by China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia In China *Altay Prefecture (阿勒泰地区), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China *Altay City (阿勒� ...

, and remained there for his entire youth career, apart from a short stint with Çamdibi Yeşilova Esnafspor in the 2017–2018 season. Sarıkaya made his professional debut at the end of the

2021–22 Süper Lig The 2021–22 Süper Lig, officially called the Spor Toto Süper Lig Ahmet Çalık season, was the 64th season of the Süper Lig, the highest tier football league of Turkey. Trabzonspor clinched their 7th league title, and first since 1983-84 se ...

season, coming on as a late substitute for Kazımcan Karataş in a 2–1 away loss to

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional sports club located in the city of Trabzon, located in Black Sea region, northeastern Turkey. Established in 1967 through the merger of several local clubs, Trabzonspor is one of the most prominent A ...

on 15 May 2022. With Altay already effectively relegated, he was given one further game in May 2022, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–2 home loss to Kasımpaşa. The following season, he was included in the team's pre-season training as they prepared for the

2022–23 TFF First League The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. He signed a professional contract with the club in February 2022, keeping him with the club until 2024. In September 2022, following impressive performances for Altay in the Turkish second tier, he was linked with Turkish clubs

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

and Fenerbahçe. His performances would then catch the eye of Spanish club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in December of the same year, with the club reportedly conveying their interest in writing to Altay. In January 2023, he expressed that his priority was to continue at Altay, despite the interest from a number of clubs. Atlético Madrid followed up their interest in Sarıkaya in April 2023, with Altay manager Tuna Üzümcü claiming that the club had received an official offer from Atlético, as well as fellow Spanish side

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

and English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, with the Turkish side rejecting all three bids. On 1 February 2024, Sarıkaya signed a five-year contract with

International career

Sarıkaya has represented Turkey at under-18 and under-19 levels. Following a call-up to the under-18 side in August 2022, Altay's then-sporting director Tuna Üzümcü expressed his pride in Sarıkaya for representing his nation while playing for the club. However, Altay, did not allow him to attend a training camp with the under-19 squad in October 2022, as they saw him as a crucial player in their bid to return to the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

Style of play

A left-footed defender, Sarıkaya operates mostly at

, although he has been played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

in some instances.

Career statistics

Club

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarıkaya, Efe 2005 births Living people Footballers from İzmir Turkish men's footballers Turkey men's youth international footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Altay S.K. footballers Grenoble Foot 38 players Süper Lig players TFF 1. Lig players Turkish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Turkish expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Turkish sportsmen