After Duván Zapata’s victories in the first part of the season and the triumph of Ruslan Malinovskyi in December, it’s Merih Demiral to receive the first Player of the Month award of 2022!

In the new issue of our monthly initiative, sponsored by ItalianOptic, Merih Demiral beat off stiff competition, winning the award as the best player of January. The Nerazzurri fans gave the final verdict: the Turkish player well deserved it. However, Merih had to sweat to get the award in the final head-to-head round against another Nerazzurri defender, Giuseppe Pezzella, who put in an outstanding performance in January. Step by step, Pezzella has managed to get an important part at Atalanta. The Nerazzurri fans have still vivid memories of his fantastic acrobatic tackle in the clash with Inter that took place on 17 January.

So, the award goes to Demiral, in acknowledgement of the excellent season that the Turkish has been having. Three matches, in which Demiral played in January, ended in clean sheets for Atalanta, thanks to the high-level performances of the Nerazzurri defender. Besides delivering a great display against Venezia in the Coppa Italia, the matches against the League leaders, Inter, at the Gewiss Stadium and against Lazio at the Olimpico were definitely the peak of January for Demiral: in fact, he didn’t concede to the two most fiercely attacking opponents in Serie A.

Congratulations, Merih! The player wins his first Nerazzurri POTM award. We hope that it’ll be one of many!

You’ll soon be able to find the next Q&A with the Turkish defender on the ItalianOptic social accounts! Stay tuned!