Former coach on İlhan Fakılı: 'He deserves it and will soon become a key figure for Turkey'

The final whistle at a Clermont training session had barely faded when Gregory Proment saw a skinny boy dribble past three defenders and hit the post. The boy was İlhan Fakılı. Back then, nobody would have bet on him wearing the Turkey national team shirt. Proment remembers every detail. When he heard the news, he smiled. 'I did not know he had been called up. It is great news. He deserves it, and he will soon be one of the key pieces of the national team.' To me, that was not polite praise. It was the echo of an afternoon with no crowd, where a young player repeated finishing drills nobody applauded. A match without fans is not without sound; there are footsteps, coach shouts, and the sound of a frightened heart. At Clermont, İlhan had moments of fear in front of goal. Proment saw that fear and chose to turn it into a habit instead of ignoring it. Gregory Proment, 47, is the French coach who worked directly with İlhan at Clermont. Even then, the young Turkish player showed outstanding individual technique. He could receive the ball in tight spaces, turn, beat defenders and make a difference. But Proment also saw gaps. 'At first, he had limitations when finishing in front of goal and making decisions on the pitch. We worked a lot on finishing. Over time, his decision-making improved clearly. That is why his strong goalscoring start at Beşiktaş does not surprise me.' That statement reveals something valuable. Proment did not call İlhan a genius. He called him a product of a process. This is different from the usual stories that label young players as phenomena. In modern football, wonderkids are often overhyped before they are ready. People forget that technique can be trained, but choosing the right moment is what separates levels. Proment chose exactly the right thing to work on. Proment also pointed out the ideal position for İlhan Fakılı. According to him, the player can adapt to many systems, but he is most effective on the left wing, close to the touchline, in 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2. 'İlhan is an intelligent player. He has already adapted to Vincenzo Italiano's system. With his tactical intelligence, he will have no problem', Proment stressed. I agree with that, because Italiano's system at Beşiktaş requires wingers to swap positions, push high and join the press. İlhan is not the kind of player who holds the ball too long. He plays through movement and timing. On the left, when facing a defender, he can use his technique to beat him; when pressured immediately, he is smart enough to pass back. This helps Beşiktaş keep attacking rhythm without losing the ball. When the game is compressed in the middle, he can still create space with off-the-ball runs. That is something video clips cannot show. When discussing Beşiktaş's attack, Proment was also generous. Beşiktaş have a high-quality attacking unit. Proment believes İlhan is no less productive than his teammates. 'He can produce as much as those around him. They will feed each other, and because of each other, they will keep scoring.' The word 'feed' is more interesting than 'compete'. A strong attack does not need one player to carry the others. It needs players who stretch space, run into the gaps teammates leave, and pass before being stopped. In that environment, stars can shine together instead of blocking each other. When an old coach speaks well of an old player, there is always reason to be cautious. But Proment does not need to speak well. İlhan no longer belongs to Clermont. Beşiktaş did not sign him because of Proment's advice. Proment also has no direct benefit from his former player's performances. Therefore, his story sounds like a teacher watching a student grow, not someone selling something. Proment is a coach, but in İlhan's story, he is the background figure, the kind I always look for as a storyteller. Based on my experience watching matches across many World Cups, I have noticed that the media usually measure young players by goals, minutes, or transfer value. Goals are easy to tell, but the process behind them is not. Nobody talks about rainy training sessions, repeating the same movement until the body remembers, or a coach correcting every step. People remember the goal, but I write about the person who gave that goal to the world through an imperfect touch. Proment is the one who turned İlhan's imperfect touch into part of his later success. The blind spot in İlhan's story is not whether he will leave. It is that most analyses only begin when he scores for Beşiktaş. They forget there was a period when he was seen as an unfinished prospect. Proment chose a seemingly small detail: decision-making. It does not appear in rankings and is not counted by xG, but it shows up in every move he makes now. At twenty-something, a player can learn how to run into space, defend, or shoot from distance. But learning how to stay calm and pick the right option in a split second is much harder to train. Proment trained it very early. İlhan's development potential is why big European clubs are paying attention. Proment said directly: 'İlhan still has a lot of room to grow. Beşiktaş are a big club, but if he keeps playing like this, many top European clubs will soon follow him.' I believe that. But being watched does not mean he must leave immediately. Some players develop better when they stay in a familiar environment, where they start every week and where the coach builds the system around them. Beşiktaş is not short of pressure, but the career damage a young player can suffer after a premature move cannot be measured by a contract. As for the national team, the first call-up is only the opening door. People will wait for İlhan in his debut, watch him on the left wing, and ask whether he can play alongside stars with years of experience. But Proment has shown that his student is not afraid of that question. İlhan was once a stranger in a French academy and had to prove himself in a different football culture. The Turkey national team is not a safe zone, but for a player who has traveled from Clermont to Beşiktaş, pressure is familiar. Every time I see a young player given a chance, I remember a line I wrote: the number 222 million is not on a balance sheet; it lives in the hearts of millions. With İlhan right now, it is the same. Before talking about his transfer value, talk about the emotion he creates. I did not write this article to conclude whether İlhan Fakılı will become a star. I wrote it for a simple reason: in a football market obsessed with results, people easily forget quiet teachers. Gregory Proment does not score, does not celebrate on the pitch, and appears in no contract. But he is part of the goal, in a way nobody can measure. When İlhan Fakılı steps out in the national team shirt for the first time, watch how he chooses his position and how calm he is in front of goal. The Clermont sessions, Proment's shouts, and the repetitive finishing drills will all be present in every touch. People often ask what a winger needs. The answer is speed, technique, or decisiveness. But what Proment wants to tell İlhan is probably simpler: choose the right space, and let the ball speak. When a young player does that, no balance sheet is needed to measure his value. The heart of millions of fans is the final measure.