Elected by fans: That’s the Bundesliga rookie of the year.

Ozan Kabak has been named rookie of the 2018/19 season in the Bundesliga. The central defender of VfB Stuttgart was chosen in a fan vote, where he prevailed against Achraf Hakimi (Borussia Dortmund) and Dodi Lukebakio (Fortuna Düsseldorf) – although Kabak only played for half a year with the Swabians.

There were seven players to choose from, three of them from later relegations: In addition to Kabak, Nicolas Gonzalez (both VfB) and Matheus Pereira (1. FC Nürnberg), Hakimi, Lukebakio, Reiss Nelson (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) and Evan N’Dicka (Eintracht Frankfurt) were also among the candidates. For Kabak, this is not the first award of its kind: a few months ago, he was already honoured as the best newcomer in March.

In January, the now 19-year-old defender moved from Galatasaray Istanbul to the Bundesliga for eleven million euros, and immediately played his way into the starting eleven of the later relegated team. The Turkish U18 international played 17 competitive games in just over four months, all from the start, and scored three goals.

However, his stay with the Southern Germans could have been of short duration: According to the picture, the youngster is allowed to go for a fixed sum of 15 million euros. Due to the relatively low amount of money, several well-known clubs have already put their feelers out to Kabak, FC Schalke 04, FC Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid are also said to be interested.