Nadir Çiftçi

Nadir Çiftçi — Biography

Nadir Çiftçi is a striker who grew up in the Netherlands, reached professional football through Portsmouth's youth system and had his best years in Scotland with Dundee United and Celtic. He was Dundee United's top scorer in each of his two seasons there and moved to Celtic in 2015. As a youth he played for the Netherlands under-17s before choosing Turkey and wearing its shirt at under-19 level.

He moved from ADO Den Haag to Portsmouth at just 15. He signed professional terms in 2010, made his first-team debut as a substitute against Coventry City on August 7, 2010, and scored his first goal two days later against Stevenage in the League Cup. After joining Kayserispor he made his Süper Lig debut on September 20, 2011; in 2012 he signed a three-year contract with NAC Breda but left after one season. His breakthrough came at Dundee United, which he joined in July 2013: he scored 11 league goals in his first season and scored against Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final that took his team to the final. In 2014-15 he reached 16 goals in all competitions, and in December 2014 he scored and set up a goal in a 2-1 win over Celtic.

Celtic had a 1.5 million pound bid accepted in July 2015 and signed him on a four-year contract; he chose the number 7 shirt. In the following years he played for Eskişehirspor, Pogoń Szczecin, Plymouth Argyle, Motherwell, Gençlerbirliği, Çaykur Rizespor, Samsunspor, Ankaragücü and St Johnstone, and in September 2019 he was called up to the senior Turkey squad.