*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:22, 27 October 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:00, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
After making one Bundesliga appearance for Eintracht Frankfurt, he transferred to Gaziantepspor in January 2011, where he won the Spor Toto Cup in 2012. In 2014, he was signed by Beşiktaş and won two Süper Lig titles before transferring to Everton in January 2018 for a reported £27 million transfer fee. After loans to fellow Premier League team Crystal Palace and back to Beşiktaş, he signed for the latter at the end of his contract in 2022.
On 29 January 2011, Tosun joined Gaziantepspor for a €400,000 transfer fee.[4] He scored 10 goals in 14 league matches in his debut season. After a less successful second season, he scored double digits in the following two campaigns and helped the club win the Spor Toto Cup in 2012.[4] He scored twice in the final, a 3–1 win over Orduspor on 17 May 2012.[5]
On 4 February 2014, Beşiktaş signed Tosun on a five-year contract worth nearly €500,000, effective from the 2014–15 season.[6] He chose the number 23 shirt after basketball player Michael Jordan.[4] In his first two campaigns at the Istanbul club, he was mainly a substitute, behind Demba Ba and Mario Gómez in the pecking order.[4] After Ba and Gómez left, he was a regular in the 2016–17 season, scoring 24 goals as his club won the Süper Lig title.[4] He then turned down a move to Premier League club Crystal Palace.[4]
On 5 January 2018, Tosun joined Premier League club Everton for a reported £27 million transfer fee, signing a four-and-a-half-year contract with the Merseyside club.[8][9] He made his debut eight days later, playing 61 minutes of a 4–0 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur.[10] He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away loss against Burnley on 3 March.[11] Manager Sam Allardyce praised Tosun when he received criticism for the start of his Everton career.[12] Tosun and fellow new signing Theo Walcott helped an Everton side that had struggled for goals in the first half of the season as the club finished in eighth place in the 2017–18 Premier League.[13]
Tosun moved on loan to Crystal Palace for the rest of the 2019–20 season on 10 January 2020.[16] He made his debut the next day against Arsenal when he came on for Max Meyer in the 68th minute of the 1–1 home draw.[17] In his next game, a first start on 18 January, he scored in a 2–2 draw away to reigning champions Manchester City.[18]
In March, Tosun was sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament injury picked up during training.[19] He returned to Everton for rehabilitation once surgery had been completed.[20]
Loan to Beşiktaş
On 31 January 2021, Tosun returned to Beşiktaş on a loan deal until the end of the season.[21] On his league debut on 15 February, he came on as a 62nd-minute replacement for Vincent Aboubakar and scored twice in a 3–0 win at Gençlerbirliği.[22] He subsequently suffered another knee injury and was diagnosed with COVID-19.[23]
Return to Beşiktaş
On 10 June 2022, Everton stated Tosun would be released at the end of the month once his contract expired.[24] On 2 July 2022, Tosun signed with Beşiktaş for a third stint with the club.[25] In his first full season back at the club, he scored 15 goals in 32 games, sixth best in the league and second best for Turkish players after Umut Nayir's 17 for Ümraniyespor;[26] this included two on 2 April in a 4–2 win at Istanbul rivals Fenerbahçe.[27]
Fenerbahçe
On 16 July 2024, Tosun signed a 2-year agreement with Fenerbahçe, inter-city rivals of his old club, on a free transfer after his contract with Beşiktaş was expired and not renewed.[28]
International career
Germany youth
Tosun played for Germany under-19 in qualification for the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. In the qualifying group in Luxembourg, he scored twice in a 5–0 win over Moldova and a consolation goal in a 2–1 loss to Turkey.[29] He scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 win over Poland in the Elite Round, but Germany did not advance to the finals in France.[30]
On 16 November 2010, Tosun made his under-21 debut in a 2–0 friendly win over England in Wiesbaden, scoring a penalty for the second goal.[31]
Tosun made his senior international debut for Turkey on 15 October 2013, replacing Selçuk İnan for the final 16 minutes of a 2–0 loss to the Netherlands in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul; the result ended the Turks' hope of qualification.[32] On 13 November 2015, he scored his first international goal, the winner in a 2–1 friendly triumph away to Qatar.[33] He added another two goals on 24 March 2016 in a 2–1 friendly win over Sweden in Antalya.[34]
Tosun was part of the 23-man squad chosen by head coach Fatih Terim for UEFA Euro 2016 in France.[35] He started in the opening match, a 1–0 loss to Croatia, but was dropped in favour of Burak Yılmaz for the following match against Spain. Tosun then returned as an added-time substitute in the 2–0 win over the Czech Republic in Lens that was not enough to take Turkey to the round of 16.[36]
In Turkey's failed qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup, Tosun scored five goals. These were braces in both matches against Finland,[37][38] and the only goal of a home win over eventual qualifiers Croatia on 5 September 2017.[39] On 1 June 2018, Tosun scored a penalty to open a 2–2 friendly draw with Tunisia in Geneva, then was sent-off for the first time in his career for a confrontation with the Turkish fans; he said he intervened because he thought his father was being attacked in the crowd.[40]
Tosun was Turkey's top scorer with five goals in Turkey's successful UEFA Euro 2020qualifying. These included braces in home and away 4–0 wins over Moldova.[41][42] He missed the final tournament – delayed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic – due to injury.[43]
On 7 June 2024, he was selected in the 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024.[44] On 26 June, he scored a stoppage-time goal in a 2–1 victory over Czech Republic in the last group stage match, securing his country's qualification to the knockout phase for the first time since 2008.[45]
Style of play
Tosun has said his ability is equal with his left and right foot, as his father Senol forbade him from using his right foot in an attempt to strengthen his left.[4] As a boy, he idolised Argentine forward Gabriel Batistuta.[4] While Tosun likens himself to Mario Gómez and Zlatan Ibrahimović, The Times writer Gary Jacob instead found him more similar to the English strikers Kevin Davies and Andy Carroll for his physicality.[46]
^ ab"Antep'in kupa keyfi!" [Antep's trophy pressure] (in Turkish). beIN Sports. 18 May 2012. Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
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