A smile spreads across Ozan Kabak’s face as he begins to discuss the future.
“No planning, not after what I’ve been through,” he tells The Athletic as the business end of the season approaches.
The 25-year-old wants to be back playing in the Champions League next season, but whether that’s with current club Hoffenheim is uncertain. The German side sit third in the Bundesliga but Kabak is set to be out of contract in the summer. He is weighing up his options, including extending what has been a three-year stay, before deciding whether to seek a fresh adventure elsewhere.
Clubs across Europe are taking note of the powerful No 5 and his eye for a goal. No centre-back has scored more times across the top five leagues in Europe this season (excluding penalties). Kabak’s four strikes have all come in the past 11 games and from only nine starts in Hoffenheim’s 25 games.
His reintroduction into the team after over 500 days out with an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injury has also coincided with Hoffenheim’s rise up the table after narrowly avoiding relegation last May.
“I’m playing great now, and I think the big things are still ahead of me,” Kabak says.
Kabak’s football journey started in his homeland of Turkey with Istanbul giants Galatasaray before spells at Stuttgart, Schalke, Liverpool, Norwich City (both on loan) and, since summer 2022, Hoffenheim.
His career has been a whirlwind.
As a 20-year-old, he arrived at Liverpool mid-season and was tasked with filling in for Premier League winners Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip during a crippling injury crisis. He is one of the few players to make multiple appearances for the club’s first team (13 in his case) but never actually get to perform in front of supporters at Anfield, due to the Covid-19 restrictions that were in place back in 2021.
“I’ve been unlucky,” he concedes.
Yet to understand why he’s smiling now, you have to go back to the start. So much has happened since Kabak moved to the Premier League and spent the second half of the 2020-21 season working under Jurgen Klopp.
“It’s been tough. Very, very tough,” he says, when reflecting on some of the more troubling times, particularly the lengthy period between summer 2024 and last December when he was left questioning whether football would ever be the same again for him.
Advertisement
Turkey performed well in the tournament until they were knocked out by the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, but for Kabak, it was their opening match against Georgia that brings back the memories.
“I had to watch it from the hospital,” he reveals. “Turkey played their first group game on the same day as I had surgery on my knee. I came out of the operation, still under the medication and not feeling myself, and was in a room with my family and my agents. When I saw the game on TV, I started to cry. I couldn’t hold back the tears. That was a really hard time.”
The months that followed were fraught with pain. Hoffenheim granted Kabak time away to recover with his family back in Istanbul. His brother, Emre, proved to be his rock throughout: “He’s my best friend. He carried me when I couldn’t walk and gave me all the emotional support that I needed.”
Many days were dark and depressing as Kabak worked through periods of self-doubt and self-reflection.
“I had to be so honest with myself because when things don’t go right, you begin to ask questions. I wondered whether I’d ever be back on the pitch again. I couldn’t even walk without pain, so for a period it felt unreal that I’d ever be playing professionally at the highest level again.”
Either side of the long training days during a tricky rehabilitation period, Kabak turned to reading as a source of inspiration.
“I read between 20 and 30 books,” he says, but nothing stuck like the story of Madonna In A Fur Coat, countryman Sabahattin Ali’s novel about love, loneliness and missed chances.
“It gave me inspiration and allowed me to understand other perspectives,” he says.
The book taught him to appreciate what he had and enjoy it. The lows of such a lengthy absence can break the weak-minded, but Kabak believes he developed something that genuinely made him stronger: “It was not easy, but when you succeed and come back to the pitch, the feeling is priceless. I’m actually happy I went through it; not because of the injury, but because the process gave me so many things that I feel grateful for. I’m a mature man and player now, and a stronger human being.”
Advertisement
Followers of his former clubs in England may also watch on with different opinions now, especially as he emerges from ‘forgotten man’ status.
In early February 2021, with the winter window closing, Liverpool turned to the young defender following a crushing injury crisis across the back line that derailed their title-defending season. Although identified as one of the most gifted defenders of his age, he was a low-risk signing alongside Ben Davies of Preston North End as Klopp desperately patched up his side in the absence of three key centre-backs.
Kabak made nine Premier League appearances for Liverpool that season, and another four in the knockout phase of the Champions League. His debut in a 3-1 defeat by Leicester City was far from the ideal start, especially after a mix-up with goalkeeper Alisson allowed Jamie Vardy a simple tap-in.
“It was just a position misunderstanding with Ali at the time that caused a problem, but the next game, three days later, I played against Leipzig (in the Champions League’s last 16), and we won with a great performance. I’m proud of myself, actually, because it’s not easy to show courage and to show up, even if you fail.”
Kabak was unfortunate at Liverpool for several reasons, none more so than being unable to play in front of their supporters. He asked his family to stay with him in the suburb of Formby for the first month and felt plenty of support from locals.
“Even though I was only there for a short time, we had a good connection. When I walked in the streets, and outside the training ground, I felt the support. I think they are really special. But it was a strange time. I was a 20-year-old transferring to another country at such a young age with a lot of pressure, and Liverpool were not doing very well.”
Another missed opportunity was not getting to play alongside Van Dijk, his idol. The skipper was out with his own ACL issue during Kabak’s short time at Liverpool and only now does Kabak realise how that might have affected the Dutchman, having experienced that same difficulty himself. “I wish I could have spent more time with him, but still I’m grateful that I got to know him.”
At the end of that season, Klopp delivered the message to Kabak that he would not be signing permanently, which ultimately felt like a blow.
“It was a really sad moment for me,” he says. “I played as soon as possible. Three days after signing, I was in the squad (for a Premier League game against Manchester City), and then six days later, I played (against Leicester). As a young central defender coming from another country, that is not easy, and it’s not something that every big club would choose to do.
“If I could have stayed longer in Liverpool, I think I could have shown my full potential, but I feel so lucky and blessed that I was able to play for this great club.”
Kabak will now watch Liverpool with interest as they take on another of his former teams, Galatasaray, in the Champions League’s round of 16 over the next two midweeks, with the first leg in Istanbul tomorrow (Tuesday).
“Galatasaray made me who I am today, and Liverpool made me a big player with my name known all over the world,” he says. “It’s going to be an interesting game, and Galatasaray have a lot more about them as a team than just the home form and the strong connection with their supporters.”
Kabak hopes he’ll be playing in the elite European competition next season, too, but won’t get ahead of himself.
He believes his current team-mates’ strong mentality and the intensity of every training session have helped mould Hoffenheim into a force again as they fight to retain one of the Bundesliga’s four Champions League places.
“Last season was horrible for Hoffenheim, but since I returned from injury, I could feel the energy. We’re a team of winners, and it’s no coincidence we’re doing well because we train hard every day and have a passion for attacking football. I have never trained this hard or intensely in my career, and when you combine that with a good atmosphere, it helps.”
Advertisement
The 6ft 2in (187cm) defender also credits a new mentality for his recent burst of goals and wants to add more to his total after hitting the post three times as well this season: “I try to connect with four or five headers per game. I know I’m good enough to be strong at set pieces, but talent isn’t enough. You need the mindset and the mentality, so if I don’t hit the ball for (the first) 10 times, I will still make the 11th run with the same passion.”
The standout moment among Kabak’s goals came fittingly on his first start since his injury, when he delivered a stunning finish against Hamburg in December. It was a goal any silky-skilled striker would have been proud of, and a reminder of Kabak’s qualities.
Once tipped as Turkey’s next big thing, Kabak may not yet have reached the heights predicted after 26 appearances for his country, the most recent being that game with Italy where he got injured, but that hasn’t stopped him from believing those dreams can still become reality.
Turkey still have a route to the upcoming World Cup via this month’s UEFA play-offs, starting with a semi-final at home against Romania that Kabak is expected to be involved in, given his fine club form.
The winners of that match will then be away to Slovakia or Kosovo five days later for another single-leg tie where one team or the other will qualify for the finals in North America.
After that Euros setback almost two years ago, it would be fitting if Kabak returned to the side and made an impact.
He is due a slice of good fortune, and the months ahead could become the most exciting of his incident-filled career yet.