Turkey Euro 2024 squad: Who Vincenzo Montella is taking to Germany

Turkish fans may have expected Uğurcan Çakır and Altay Bayındır to be the long-term goalkeepers after the duo fuelled the hopes of their national team futures with excellent domestic form in 2021-22.

While Bayindir is struggling for minutes at Manchester United, Çakır's performance has not been as impressive in subsequent campaigns.

Although Cakir remains the No. 1 pick for Turkey, Besiktas' Mert Gunok has emerged as a solid candidate following an impressive campaign in the Super Lig.

A few years ago, many Turkish fans were excited about their potential central defensive options in years to come. Merih Demiral was partnering with the likes of Bonucci and Chiellini at Juventus, Caglar Soyuncu was plying his trade for a top-six Premier League side, Leicester City, and Ozan Kabak was one of the best young defensive prospects in the Bundesliga.

Then, Soyuncu and Kabak struck a serious slump in form, changing clubs without much fruition, although the latter has somewhat revived his career at Hoffenheim. Demiral is also playing in a less competitive Saudi Pro League.

What's more, in a further blow, both Soyuncu and Kabak have been ruled out of the Euro 2024 tournament due to respective injury concerns. Therefore, Turkey head into the tournament with plenty of concerns in the centre-back department that will surely be lacking top-level experience.

Thankfully, they have already started the process of bringing through new central defensive talent, with Ajax's Ahmetcan Kaplan being the prime example. Zeki Celik and Mert Muldur will likely form the full-back duo in case Montella opts for a back-four system.

Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu is the most-capped player (82) in Montella's squad and the playmaker is expected to play in a midfield role alongside Benfica's Orkun Kokcu and Dortmund's strong tackler Salih Ozcan.

With long-time servant Burak Yılmaz retiring from the international stage last year, Enes Ünal looked like the main hope of goals in this squad, having earned a Premier League loan move to Bournemouth from La Liga side Getafe in the winter transfer window. However, Unal has been ruled out of the Euro 2024 tournament due to a broken toe.

Cenk Tosun is the leading goalscorer in the squad, scoring 20 times for his national side, and he is expected to be a key cog upfront for Turkey at the competition due to Unal's absence.

Juventus' Kenan Yildiz and Galatasaray's Kerem Akturkoglu are frontrunners to start out wide, with Cengiz Under, Yusuf Yazici, and Yunus Akgun set to serve as the back-up options.

Although he has endured an injury-ridden 2023-24 campaign with Real Madrid, highly-rated teenager Arda Guler has been called up to the preliminary squad this month and could be one of the breakout stars at the upcoming Euros.

Turkey boss Montella is expected to set his side up in a direct 4-2-3-1 system, with Cakir holding his spot in goal despite stiff competition.

The back four will feature Celik, Demiral, Kabak, and Ozkacar. Ozcan and Kokcu will form the double pivot in the engine room.

Captain Calhanoglu will switch in and out to form a midfield three at times while serving as creator-in-chief in other instances. Unal will lead the charge for the Czechs in the final third and will have the support from wingers Yildiz and Akturkoglu.

Turkey possible XI (4-2-3-1): Cakir; Celik, Demiral, Kabak, Ozkacar; Ozcan, Kokcu; Yildiz, Calhanoglu, Akturkoglu; Tosun.

As alluded to above, Unal suffered a fractured toe during training in the lead-up to the tournament, and the striker has now been ruled out of the tournament in a huge blow for the national side.

Soyuncu withdrew from the initial selection due to a thigh injury that he picked up while playing for Fenerbahce. Fellow centre-back partner Kabak suffered a similar fate after suffering a knee ligament injury during a pre-tournament friendly against Italy.

Dogan Alemdar, Cenk Ozkacar, Berat Ozdemir, Can Uzun, Abdulkadir Omur, and Oguz Aydin were all named to the provisional 35-man roster but did not make the final squad that travelled to Germany.