Michy Batshuayi

Michy Batshuayi-Atunga (born 2 October 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe and the Belgium national team.

Batshuayi began his professional career at Standard Liège in 2011, scoring 44 goals in 120 games across all competitions.

Batshuayi made his debut for the senior team on 20 February 2011 in a 4–1 loss away to Gent, replacing Franck Berrier for the last seven minutes.

Six days later, he made his only other appearance of the Belgian Pro League season, filling in for Aloys Nong in the last minute of a 3–0 victory against KV Mechelen at the Stade Maurice Dufrasne.

On 21 July, Batshuayi was an unused substitute in the 2011 Belgian Super Cup, a 1–0 loss to Gent.

On 15 December, he scored his first professional goal, the only one away to Copenhagen in the last match of Group B during the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage, advancing his team into the knockout stages.

Six days later, he added two more in a 2–1 win at Lierse in the quarter-final first leg of the Belgian Cup, although his side lost 5–4 on aggregate.

He scored his first league goal on 14 January 2012 to round off a 6–1 home win over Germinal Beerschot, and ended the campaign with six.

He was sent-off as a substitute in a 3–2 loss at Genk on 22 April for stamping on the chest of Jeroen Simaeys, for which the Royal Belgian Football Association suspended him for four matches.

Batshuayi was again sent-off on 25 September 2012 in a 3–2 win at Mouscron in the sixth round of the Belgian Cup, having elbowed Benjamin Delacourt within the first half-hour; he was suspended for the next two matches of the competition and fined €200.

In an interview a month later, he said he felt "destroyed" by the suspension.

His 21 goals in the 2013–14 Belgian Pro League made him the second-highest scorer and contributed to his Ebony Shoe Award.

He recorded 12 goals in 26 matches over the campaign, including two on 19 May 2013 to decide a 4–3 home win over Lokeren.

In the 2013–14 season, Batshuayi scored 21 goals in 34 matches, putting him in second place for the league's top scorer behind Lokeren's Hamdi Harbaoui.

This tally included a first professional hat-trick on 15 September in a 4–2 win at Oostende.

He was awarded the Ebony Shoe Award for the season's best player of African origin, ahead of Harbaoui.

On 8 August 2014, Batshuayi signed with French club Marseille for a £4.5 million transfer fee.

He made his debut the next day as Marseille began the Ligue 1 season with a 3–3 draw at Bastia, replacing Dimitri Payet with 11 minutes remaining.

On 29 October, he scored his first goal for the club to open a 2–1 defeat at Rennes in the third round of the Coupe de la Ligue.

He scored nine league goals for Marcelo Bielsa's team, despite rarely starting matches.

Batshuayi scored in his international debut for Belgium against Cyprus in March 2015.

On 22 February 2015, within five minutes of coming on for André-Pierre Gignac, he scored twice away to Saint-Étienne in an eventual 2–2 draw.

In March, he added further braces in away victories at Toulouse and Lens (6–1 and 4–0 respectively), the latter after taking Gignac's place at half-time.

On 23 August 2015, Batshuayi scored his first goals of the season, a brace, in a 6–0 victory over Troyes.

Soon after, club president Vincent Lebrune said, "There is not a single top 15 world club that is not interested in Batshuayi. He is one of the most wanted players on the market. There were a lot of offers for him this summer, but he didn't want to leave. He's proving himself on the pitch, and if clubs want him then they are going to have to pay around €50m."

By the mid-season break, he had 11 goals from 19 matches, behind only arch-rival Paris Saint-Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimović, with Marseille in tenth in the league table and PSG in first.

Batshuayi finished the league season with 17 goals.

He then transferred to Marseille for £4.5 million, helping them reach the 2016 Coupe de France final.

In July 2016, he was signed by Chelsea for £33 million, and scored the goal that won the Premier League title in his debut season.

After loans at Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Crystal Palace and Beşiktaş, he joined Fenerbahçe in 2022.

He added two more goals from five games in the Coupe de France, one being in the final, where Marseille lost 4–2 to PSG on 21 May 2016.

In April 2016, English Premier League club West Ham United were reported as the favourites to sign Batshuayi, having offered a €35 million bid.

Two months later, their London neighbours Crystal Palace made a €38 million (£31.5 million) bid which would have made him their record signing, while Italian champions Juventus were also among the interested parties.

Although Palace's bid was accepted, Batshuayi did not want to make the move, instead engaging with a €40 million (£33.2 million) offer from Chelsea, for which he left Belgium's UEFA Euro 2016 squad to undergo a medical.

On 3 July, he signed a five-year deal at Chelsea.

He was the first signing by their new manager Antonio Conte, and said his aim was to get the team back to winning the Premier League and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.

Batshuayi added he was eager to work alongside their midfielder Oscar.

Batshuayi joined Chelsea for pre-season in Austria, and on 20 July, he made his debut in a friendly against Wolfsberger AC.

He was part of their side that finished in third place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, also playing at the 2022 World Cup and the UEFA European Championships of 2016 and 2020.

Born in Brussels to Congolese parents, Batshuayi had a nomadic youth career with spells at Evere, Schaarbeek, Brussels (twice) and Anderlecht before he joined Standard Liège.