France had an extremely frustrating night on Saturday, as they were beaten 2-0 by Turkey after goals from Kaan Ayhan and Cengiz Ünder.
Though Kylian Mbappé will have been even more annoyed than most as he was shut out of the game, mostly by Hasan Ali Kaldırım.
The Turkish left-back could be moving to London Stadium within a week, as Turkish outlet Fanatik report club representatives will travel to Istanbul in this time and are willing to pay his five million euro release clause to take him from Fenerbahçe.
That will seem a bargain once the 29-year-old’s performance against France’s Mbappé is considered.
As a team, the French only managed one shot all game according to Sofascore, which went off target and didn’t come from their 20-year-old talisman.
Kaldırım completed three clearances, blocked one shot and made four interceptions while completing both of his two tackle attempts across the 90 minutes.
He also The Fenerbahçe defender’s heat map showed a defensive approach and he didn’t put in any crosses throughout the game despite hugging the touchline, while Mbappé’s heat map was more spread out as he made an effort to find different areas where he could make a greater impact.
Having conceded 55 goals during the 2018/19 season, Kaldırım’s defensive performance will be highly encouraging for Hammers fans now it seems more likely than ever he could be moving to East London.
