Strikers are the players everyone grows up dreaming to be. To score the winning goal in the last minute of a match it’s what every kid wants to do when they’re out kicking a ball with their friends at the park.
Strikers though can be temperamental beasts, when they are in form they can score all day long but when they are out of form the goals dry up more than the Australian outback.
There is a certain type of striker that is more temperamental than most, the one that plays on the edge, think of Eric Cantona, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mario Balotelli. These strikers can score for fun when they are in form but also have a dark side when things go wrong.
In the A-League we are seeing our own version of these strikers blossom in front of our eyes. Kerem Bulut hasn’t been here long but already he has made an impact. Bulut has returned to Australia with Western Sydney Wanderers after a mixed spell playing for clubs on the fringe of the European scene, mostly in the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Initially Bulut came through the Sydney FC youth team where he scored 13 goals in 27 games for the Sky Blues, however he soon left to pursue the European dream and went to Czech club FK Mlada Boleslav. His spell there wasn’t the easiest due to language difficulties and on a trip home to Australia he got in hot water with police after being charged with a number of gang related offences.
He then moved on to Turkey where he played for Karsiyaka and Akhisar Belediyespor, but his time there was unsettled by injuries and lack of form and he was eventually released from his contract.
Then Tony Popovic came calling. Popovic, who had worked with Bulut in the Sydney FC youth ranks, was eager to bring him back to Australia. Bulut, originally brought in to be in the Wanderers’ Asian Champions League squad, was signed to a six-month deal until the end of the domestic season.
However, injuries in the Western Sydney squad gave Bulut the chance to come in to the A-League team as a injury replacement player and he has taken his chance with both hands and has repaid his manager’s faith by scoring five goals in five games.
He was thrust into the limelight in the madness which was the final Sydney derby of this year’s A-League season. In a game which had everything from Western Sydney going behind 3-0 in the space of 25 minutes of the game, to Western Sydney coming back to level 3-3 at the 52 minute mark. Sydney FC would go on to win 4-3 after Terry Antonis scored to winner.
However, in that game it was Bulut’s two goals which got the Wanderers back into the contest, his first a neat finish after a cross from the left and his second, the equaliser, was a shot from the edge of the box through a haze of flare smoke.
Bulut went wild and ran into the Red and Black Bloc where the crowd embraced their new hero with open arms.
However, Bulut is never far from controversy and after this game he was involved in one incident which was slightly bizarre. Getting in a heated argument with the store manager of a McDonalds in Sydney’s west, this lead to Bulut being charged by police and stood down for the match against Melbourne City.
After two games where he didn’t score, Bulut then came alive again against Brisbane where he scored another two goals and helped the Wanderers to a 4-1 victory. The next game against Perth Glory he scored again, a mistake from the Perth defence allowing Iacopo La Rocca to play Bulut in behind the Glory defence to score a well taken finish.
If Bulut can keep himself focused on playing football and he does what he does best, which is score goals, then a chance to play for the Socceroos will not be far away. Under Tony Popovic he has the right manager to get the best out of his talents.
The future is in Bulut’s hands, and only he has the power to make himself the next great striker for Western Sydney and potentially Australia. The little bit of guile he has on the pitch and the fighting spirt should not be suppressed, but Bulut needs to focus on his game and not be distracted by off-field distractions.
Will Bulut be Australia’s next superstar striker or is he going to be the Australian Balotelli? Only he can decide.
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