Emre Can

Born in 1994 in Frankfurt, Can joined local side SV Blau-Gelb Frankfurt at the age of six and remained at the club until 2006, when he joined the youth academy of Eintracht Frankfurt. During his time with both Frankfurt clubs, he predominantly played in midfield where he assumed an attacking role. In 2009, at the age of 15, he relocated to Bavaria after being signed by Bayern Munich.

Can received call-ups for the German U15, U16 and U17 youth football teams. In 2011, he was a part of U17 team that finished as runners-up at the European Championships. He was also named in the team of the tournament. Later that year, he captained the squad in the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup and led his team to the semi-finals. During the semi-final, he netted a solo goal against Mexico: he received the ball with three markers closing in on him, skipped past one and paced forward before escaping two other opponents and evading the goalkeeper, but Germany were defeated 3–2.

During his first year in Bayern's academy, Can was used in the centre-back position before returning to midfield when he began playing for Bayern Munich II in the Regionalliga Bayern. He made his first team debut in the 2012 DFL-Supercup and his Bundesliga debut against 1. FC Nürnberg on 13 April 2013. His first and only league goal for the club came on 27 April 2013 in a 1–0 home win over SC Freiburg. Competing with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Luiz Gustavo and Javi Martínez for a spot in Bayern's midfield, he ultimately made only seven senior appearances before signing for fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in 2013 in seek of regular game-time.

On 2 August 2013, Can signed a four-year deal with Bayer 04 Leverkusen. A buy-back clause was included in the agreement which would have allowed Bayern to re-sign Can for a set-fee in 2015, an option they later declined to exercise.

Can made his debut for die Werkself on 31 August 2013, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for Stefan Reinartz in a 2–0 defeat at FC Schalke 04. His first goal for the club came on 26 October when he scored the winner against FC Augsburg in a 2–1 victory. Can made his UEFA Champions League debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford later that month in a match which ended 4–2 in the favour of the English side.

On 5 June 2014, Bayer Leverkusen confirmed that Can would join Liverpool after the Merseyside club activated his £9.75 million (€12 million) release clause. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers described Can in a press conference later in the week as an "inspirational young talent". The transfer was completed on 3 July 2014.

Can made his competitive debut for the club on 25 August 2014, coming on as a substitute for Joe Allen in a 3–1 away defeat against Manchester City. The following month, he picked up an ankle injury while on duty with the German under-21 side and was sidelined for six weeks. On 19 October, following his return from injury, Can made his first start for Liverpool in a 3–2 win against Queens Park Rangers. He scored his first Liverpool goal on 8 November with a long-range shot past Thibaut Courtois, opening the scoring in an eventual 2–1 defeat to Chelsea. Against the same opponent in a League Cup semi-final defeat on 27 January 2015, Can was stamped on by Chelsea forward Diego Costa; referee Michael Oliver did not penalize the incident, but Costa was retrospectively banned for three matches by the FA. In April, Can received his first red card for Liverpool in 4–1 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Though naturally a midfielder, Can spent much of his debut season playing in defence, and ultimately featured 40 times for the campaign across all competitions.

On 22 October 2015, in Liverpool's UEFA Europa League match against Rubin Kazan at Anfield, Can scored his first goal of the 2015–16 season. It was the club's first goal under the management of Can's compatriot and new manager Jürgen Klopp. On 14 February 2016, he scored his first league goal of the season in a 6–0 win over Aston Villa. While Can was often used at centre back or full back under Rodgers, with Klopp's arrival he was moved to his preferred position of central midfielder. He was praised by Klopp for his improvement and became a key cog in Liverpool's midfield. On 14 April 2016, Can ruptured his ankle ligaments in the Europa League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund. Initially, he was ruled out for the rest of the domestic season. However, he returned ahead of schedule and played in the second leg of the semi-final against Villarreal. Can later revealed that he trained for 8 hours a day for 3 weeks to get fit for the Villarreal game.

On 28 August 2015, Can received his first senior call-up from manager Joachim Löw, ahead of the following month's UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Poland and Scotland. He made his debut on 4 September in the first game, playing the full 90 minutes of a 3–1 win at the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt.

On 29 October 2016, Can scored his first goal of the season, scoring the opening goal in Liverpool's 4–2 win over Crystal Palace. On 6 November, Can scored Liverpool's third goal in their 6–1 win over Watford, which took Liverpool to 1st position in the Premier League for the first time under Jürgen Klopp. On 4 December, Can scored in Liverpool's 4–3 defeat to Bournemouth. On 12 March 2017, Can scored the winning goal in Liverpool's 2–1 win over Burnley, in what was called by Klopp an "ugly win". On 1 May 2017, Can scored an overhead kick in a 1–0 in over Watford, with the strike later earning him the BBC Goal of the Season and Carling Goal of the Season awards.

On 31 May 2016, Can was named in Germany's final 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016. His sole appearance in the tournament came in the 2–0 semi-final loss to France, a match that Can started.

On 23 August 2017, Can scored twice against Hoffenheim in the second leg of the Champions League play-off round in a 4–2 win for Liverpool on the night, and a 6–3 win on aggregate. These were his first goals for Liverpool in the new season. Can received praise for his performance during Liverpool's 4–0 win over Arsenal on 27 August. On 1 November, Can scored in Liverpool's 3–0 win over Slovenian side Maribor. His first league goal of the season came in a 5–1 away win over Brighton & Hove Albion, where he played at centre-back. On 30 January 2018, Can scored the opening goal in Liverpool's 3–0 win over Huddersfield Town at the Kirklees Stadium. On 24 February, he scored the opener in Liverpool's 4–1 win over West Ham United. On 17 March, during a game against Watford, Can suffered a muscle injury in his back, and it was reported that he could potentially miss the rest of the season out injured. Can returned in time for the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final against Real Madrid, but was only named on the bench. He came on as a substitute for James Milner in the 83rd minute. Liverpool lost the match by a scoreline of 3–1.

On 17 May 2017, Can was named in Germany's final 23-man squad for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. Can made an appearance as a substitute in Germany's first game, a 3–2 win over Australia. He would appear in all 5 of his team's matches in the competition as Germany ran out winners in the final against Chile.

On 8 June 2018, it was confirmed by Liverpool via their official website that Can, along with Jon Flanagan and several youth players, would leave the club upon the expiry of their contracts, on 1 July 2018.

On 21 June 2018, Can signed a four-year deal with Serie A side Juventus following the expiration of his contract with Liverpool; the Italian club paid €16 million in additional costs for his services. Can became the tenth German player, after Hans Mayer Heuberger, Josef Edmund Heß, Helmut Haller, Thomas Häßler, Stefan Reuter, Jürgen Kohler, Andreas Möller, Sami Khedira, and Benedikt Höwedes, to join Juventus. A €50 million release clause was also included in Can's contract, only valid for clubs outside of Italy and starting from his third year of contract; this was the first time that Juventus had added a release clause to one of its player's contracts. He made his Serie A debut on 18 August, coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 away win against Chievo Verona. On 21 January 2019, Can scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 home victory over the same opponents.

He scored his first senior international goal on 8 October, in a 5–1 home win in a 2018 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan.

In May 2018, he was left out of Germany's squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In October 2019, Turkish international footballer Cenk Tosun published a photograph on Instagram in which he stated support for soldiers involved in the Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria. The post was initially liked by Can and İlkay Gündoğan, who are both German internationals of Turkish descent; however, they both later removed their likes. Regarding the incident, Can told the German newspaper daily Bild: "I am an absolute pacifist and against all forms of war," also stating that he unintentionally liked the post while scrolling through his timeline.

On 31 January 2020, Borussia Dortmund announced Can's signing on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season, with an obligation to buy. On 8 February, Can made his debut for Dortmund, also scoring a goal in a 4–3 away loss to Bayer Leverkusen. On 18 February 2020, the deal was made permanent on a four-year contract for €25 million, with the loan still expiring at the end of the 2019–20 season.