page_title: Hakan Çalhanoğlu
section_title: Bayer Leverkusen
hierarchical_section_title: Hakan Çalhanoğlu / Club career / Bayer Leverkusen
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Hakan Calhanoglu, türkischer Fußballspieler
context_page_description: Hakan Çalhanoğlu is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Milan and a midfielder for the Turkey national team.
  He began his career at Karlsruher SC in 2010 and moved to top-flight side Hamburger SV two years later, spending another season back at his first club on loan. His performance in his first Bundesliga season earned him a €14.5 million transfer to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2014. He played for three seasons at the BayArena, totalling 28 goals in 115 official appearances. In 2017, he signed for Milan for an initial €20 million fee.
  Born in Germany, Çalhanoğlu opted to represent Turkey at international level, from under-16 level onwards. He made his senior debut in 2013 and was part of their squad at UEFA Euro 2016.
context_section_description: Hamburg were initially unwilling to sell Çalhanoğlu to other German teams, but their purchase of Pierre-Michel Lasogga from Hertha BSC made such an exception no longer financially viable. On 4 July 2014, he left Hamburg for league rivals Bayer Leverkusen, signing a five-year contract for a transfer fee of €14.5 million. His actions leading up to the transfer caused some controversy, including taking sick leave from Hamburg; he justified the leave by saying that he was stressed by aggression from fans, including vandalism of his car. He also criticised Hamburg's director Oliver Kreuzer, accusing him of betrayal. The move was later criticised by Son Heung-min, as a response to Çalhanoğlu calling his former Leverkusen teammate's transfer to Tottenham Hotspur "badly advised".
  He made his debut for the club on 19 June, starting in a 3–2 away win at Copenhagen in the first leg of a UEFA Champions League qualification play-off. Four days later, he played his first league game for his new club, a 2–0 win away to Borussia Dortmund on the opening day of the new season. On 27 August he scored his first Leverkusen goal, netting his team's second in a 4–0 win in the second leg of their European play-off. He scored his first league goal for the club on 12 September, Leverkusen's second in a 3–3 home draw against Werder Bremen. It was the first game in any competition that season which they did not win. Çalhanoğlu was nominated for the 2014 Golden Boy Award in October.
  On 25 February 2015, he scored the only goal as Leverkusen defeated Atlético Madrid in the last 16 first leg in the Champions League. However, three weeks later in the second leg, he took their first attempt in a penalty shoot-out and had it saved by Jan Oblak, as Atlético went on to win. On 2 May, Çalhanoğlu opened a 2–0 home win over newly crowned league champions Bayern Munich, with a free kick.
  He opened his second season at the club by scoring a penalty on 8 August in a 3–0 win at fourth-tier Sportfreunde Lotte in the first round of the DFB-Pokal. Two weeks later, with a free kick, he scored the only goal of a league win at Hannover 96. On 26 August, he opened a 3–0 win over Lazio as Bayer came back from a first-leg deficit to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League. In their first game of the group stage, Çalhanoğlu scored twice — including a penalty earned by a handball of his free kick — in a 4–1 home rout of BATE Borisov.
  He opened his 2016–17 goalscoring account on 14 September in the 2–2 home draw against CSKA Moscow in a Champions League group stage game — the 50th goal in his senior club career.
  On 2 February 2017, Çalhanoğlu received a four-month ban from FIFA for a breach of contract relating to his time at Karlsruhe. He received €100,000 from Turkish club Trabzonspor in 2011 after agreeing to sign with the club but later extended his contract with Karslruhe. Trabzonspor had initially sought repayment of the €100,000 paid as well compensation of €1 million but FIFA ruled that €100,000 and a four-month ban would suffice.
caption: Çalhanoğlu with Leverkusen in 2015
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