Nihat Kahveci

He had his debut on January, 26 in a 3–1 loss against Celta de Vigo, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute for Xabi Alonso and played for 18 minutes.

Nihat Kahveci (born 23 November 1979), better known mononymously as Nihat, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward and right winger.

He works as a football commentator for TRT.

He has a UEFA Pro Licence.

Like most Turkish players, his shirt carries his first name, Nihat, rather than his family name, Kahveci.

Nihat is a product of Beşiktaş's youth system and was discovered by Hürser Mustafa Cindir when Nihat played in Beşiktaş in the 1996–97 season.

He joined the first team at Beşiktaş in the 1997–98 season when he was just 17, at the time John Toshack was the coach.

Since then, Nihat became a key player.

In January 2002, Nihat was transferred to Real Sociedad for €5 million by his former Beşiktaş coach Toshack.

Nihat also joined his Turkish team-mate Tayfun Korkut in Spain.

His first goal came in a 2–2 draw against Rayo Vallecano on 24 February 2002.

In the first half of the season, Nihat played 11 matches and scored one goal.

In 2002–03, his second season in Spain, Nihat scored a brace in the Basque derby, the opening match of the season, helping his team to win 4–2.

He finished the season with 23 goals making him the league's joint-second highest scorer for the season behind Roy Makaay (29 goals) and tied with Ronaldo.

That season, Real Sociedad finished second in the league that season, just two points behind Real Madrid, mostly thanks to a very fruitful strike partnership with Serbian forward Darko Kovačević, such that sports journalist Phil Ball nicknamed the pair "Little and Large", in reference to the height difference between the two (Nihat's height is 1.75 m and Kovačević's is 1.87 m).

His consistent, good performances have led to interests from other clubs, to which Nihat turned a deaf ear.

In his third season at Real Sociedad, Nihat made 32 appearances scoring a total of 14 goals.

Nihat also played in the UEFA Champions League with Real Sociedad as the club was paired with Juventus, Galatasaray and Olympiacos.

La Real qualified to the knockout stage, but was eliminated by Olympique Lyonnais, losing 2–0 on aggregate.

By the end of the season, Nihat won the Don Balón Award for Best Foreign Player.

In his fourth season, Nihat made 23 appearances and scored 13 goals.

In the middle of the season, Nihat tore his ACL during a match against Sevilla which caused him to be out of action for six months.

He married Pınar Kaşgören on 5 July 2003.

In June 2005, reports claimed that Nihat was linked to Russian club CSKA Moscow for €20 million Euros but the move never materialized.

Nihat insisted he had to concentrate on the club to prevent relegation: "I can't go now. I can't walk out on Real Sociedad, We are fighting to try and secure some tranquillity and I am one of those who thinks that the more strength there is in the team, the better. On Sunday we took a very important step in Santander, and now it is a question of continuing to take steps forward in the league.".

Nihat was also linked with clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United.

In his fifth and last season at Real Sociedad, Nihat made his return from injury in a 3–0 loss in the Basque derby, against Athletic Bilbao.

He went on to make 32 appearances and score seven goals.

During that season, Nihat was about to sign for Russian club Spartak Moscow but had to stay for the remainder of the season due to Kovačević's injury.

On 16 May 2006, Nihat agreed to join Villarreal CF, on a five-year contract, on a Bosman transfer after rejecting a new contract at Real Sociedad.

He tore his ACL again on 22 November 2006 during a training ground collision with team-mate Javi Venta and was out for months.

He seemed to catch up form in his second season with 18 goals in the league and four goals in the UEFA Cup, helping his club to finish the season as second in La Liga where he formed a formidable offensive pair with Robert Pires.

The Spanish newspaper El Mundo named Nihat as the best player on the team.

Their daughter Selin was born in May 2008.

However, in the 2008–09 season, due to injuries again, Nihat made 19 appearances equalling 764 minutes of playing time but failed to score a single goal.

On 27 June 2009, Nihat returned to the club where he started his career by signing for Beşiktaş J.K. on a four-year deal.

Return to Turkish football wasn't very fruitful for Nihat.

Over two seasons he managed 34 appearances in the league, netting only three goals.

On 25 April 2011, in a match against Konyaspor which turned out to be his last game, Nihat and the new Beşiktaş favourite Ricardo Quaresma had quarrel on the pitch.

Nihat was upset at Quaresma for failing to pass the ball and the altercation was broken up by teammates.