Sassuolo defender Merih Demiral has hit the ground running since joining the Serie A side from Alanyaspor in January.

Demiral has started the last eight league games for his side and has been outstanding lately putting on a man of the match display in the goalless draw against Parma over the weekend.

The powerful defender won seven aerial duels, made three interceptions and completed 95 of 102 attempted passes.

The 21-year-old scored a brace a fortnight ago in the 4-0 win over Chievo.

The Italian side have conceded just two goals in their last three games which Demiral has started.

Football stats site Whocored has Demiral rated second in the Top 10 U21 players in Europe over the past six games.

PSG star Kylian Mbappe is the only player who has performed better over the same time period.

Jadon Sancho leads the English contingent in the U21 player form rankings having bagged a brace in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 win over Mainz 05

Demiral has become the latest in a growing number of homegrown Turkish players to move to a top-five league.

See More: Turks Abroad: Mehmet Zeki Celik Stars In Lille Rout, Metehan Guclu Scores On PSG Debut

Ozan Kabak joined Stuttgart on a €12m move from Galatasaray earlier in the transfer window while Mehmet Zeki Celik moved to Lille and Okay Yokuslu completed a transfer from Trabzonspor to Celta Vigo.