Gökhan Inler (Turkish: İnler, born 27 June 1984) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is currently in charge as a technical director of Italian football club Udinese.
Inler began his professional career with Basel and later joined Aarau and Zürich, winning the Swiss Super League in both of his seasons with the latter. After four seasons with Udinese in the Italian Serie A, he joined Napoli in 2011, where he twice won the Coppa Italia.
Inler played under-21 football for both Switzerland and Turkey. He made his debut for the Switzerland senior team in 2006 and has since earned 89 caps, scoring seven goals, making him the nation's fifth-most capped player of all time. He represented the squad at UEFA Euro 2008 and two FIFA World Cups, captaining the Swiss in Brazil in 2014.
Born in Olten in the Canton of Solothurn, Inler began his career at Basel, later Aarau. On 20 March 2005, he made his Swiss Super League debut in a 2–3 home defeat against Grasshoppers. In January 2006, he was signed by Zürich and was part of the 2005–06 and 2007–08 Swiss championship-winning teams.
Inler joined Udinese of the Italian Serie A in July 2007 after the Udine-based club met a buy-out clause in his Zürich contract, joining for an undisclosed fee and signing a five-year contract. He scored his first goal for Udinese in a 2–1 win over Torino, netting in the 52nd minute to make the score 2–0 for Udinese. On 30 March 2008, Inler scored his second Serie A goal, opening the scoring in an eventual 3–1 win over Fiorentina. Inler also set-up striker Antonio Di Natale for the winning goal later in the match. In Inler's first season in Italy, he started all domestic games for Udinese, scoring two goals and providing two assists. Inler and Udinese had a successful season, finishing seventh in Serie A and thus earning a berth in the first round of next season's UEFA Cup.
On the opening day of the 2008–09 Serie A season, Inler scored the third goal of a 3–1 win over Palermo and provided an assist for one of Antonio Di Natale's two goals. On 18 September, Inler then scored in the first leg of a UEFA Cup qualifying round game away against Borussia Dortmund, a game Udinese won 0–2. Despite then losing the home leg 2–0 courtesy of two goals from Tamás Hajnal, Udinese progressed after winning 4–3 on penalties, with Inler converting his kick. Inler featured in all four of Udinese's group stage games as they finished first in their group with nine points. In the round of 16, Inler started both legs against reigning champions Zenit Saint Petersburg, as Udinese won 2–1 on aggregate against the Russians. In the quarterfinal round against Werder Bremen, Udinese lost the first leg 3–1 away from home, but in the second leg, Inler struck early on for the hosts, netting a dipping shot from over 25 yards (23 m) out. Diego equalised for the Germans before Fabio Quagliarella netted twice before the break to bring the aggregate score to 4–4. Two second-half goals for Bremen, however, meant that the hosts were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage.
Inler's goal against Palermo proved to be his only league goal of the season, but he provided three more assists, including one helper in a stunning 6–2 victory over Cagliari on the final matchday of the season. The win assured that Udinese once again finished seventh in Serie A, this time five points behind Roma for the last European spot.
Udinese and Inler found the next season much more difficult. The playmaker did not have a successful season following his breakout campaign in the UEFA Cup from the previous year. He failed to score in 33 Serie A appearances and only provided one assist to Antonio Di Natale in a 2–1 loss to eventual champions Inter Milan. Udinese only secured their Serie A safety on the penultimate day of the season after a 2–2 draw at Cagliari, which also saw the hosts confirm their Serie A place for the next season. Four days later, Inler scored for Switzerland in a 1–1 draw against Italy in an international friendly in preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with former teammate Fabio Quagliarella scoring for the reigning world champions.
Inler and Udinese continued their poor form from the previous year to begin the 2010–11 Serie A campaign, losing four of their first five games, though fortunes quickly started to turn around for each. Udinese went on a streak of six-straight games without a loss, winning four in a row; in one game, Inler set up Antonio Floro Flores to level for the hosts against Cagliari, a game ending in a 1–1 draw on 7 November 2010. Following the winter break, Inler grabbed an assist in Udinese's 2–0 win over Chievo on 6 January 2011. In an enthralling game at the San Siro the next Sunday, Inler provided Antonio Di Natale with one of his goals in a 4–4 draw against eventual champions Milan. Inler then scored his first goal of the season in a 3–0 win over Cesena. The result meant that Udinese had not lost in 2011, a span of eight games, and moved up to sixth in the league table. Udinese drew their next game against Brescia before winning their next four, including a 7–0 thrashing of Palermo away from home. In the 13th and final game of their unbeaten streak, Inler scored against Catania in a 2–0 win. After finally losing, a 2–0 defeat to Lecce, Inler continued his fine run of form, scoring in a 2–1 win over title-chasers Napoli. Udinese drew with Milan on 22 May, confirming the former's fourth-place finish and Italy's final UEFA Champions League berth with one game remaining in the season.
Because of his good form in Udinese, helping them finish fourth in the 2010–11 Serie A table and securing a Champions League playoff spot, transfer speculation was rife that Inler would be on the move. In May 2011, Udinese agreed a deal with Napoli in a deal for the player worth €13 million. In July, Inler agreed personal terms with Napoli and was unveiled on 11 July, being presented in an unconventional manner, wearing a lion mask to hide his identity and sporting the jersey number 88. He made his Napoli debut in their 3–1 away win at Cesena on 10 September. Inler provided an assist for Federico Fernández in a 3–2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the group stages of the Champions League on 2 November. In the same game, he was involved in a challenge with Bastian Schweinsteiger that resulted in the German international requiring surgery for a broken collarbone. On 7 December, Inler scored his first goal for both his new club and in the Champions League; he opened the scoring with a left-footed drive in a 0–2 away win over Villarreal in the final game of the group stage phase, a win that took Napoli through to the knockout stages of the competition.
In Napoli's Round of 16 tie against Chelsea, Inler scored a long-range drive in the second leg at Stamford Bridge to send the game into extra-time. A late goal from Branislav Ivanović, however, ensured Chelsea progressed to the quarterfinals 5–4 on aggregate. On 25 April 2012, Napoli headed to the Stadio Via del Mare to face Lecce, where Inler provided both assists for goals by Marek Hamšík and Edinson Cavani, helping Napoli climb to fourth in Serie A standings. Later on in the season, Inler played in the Coppa Italia Final against Scudetto winners Juventus, winning his first piece of silverware with the Partenopei after they defeated league-champions Juve 2–0.
On 3 May 2014, Inler was sent off in Napoli's victory over Fiorentina in the 2014 Coppa Italia Final.
On 19 August 2015, Inler signed for Premier League club Leicester City on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut three days later, replacing Danny Drinkwater for the final ten minutes of a 1–1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the King Power Stadium. Due to the good performances of Drinkwater and N'Golo Kanté, Inler totalled only seven Leicester appearances by the end of the calendar year. As a result, Inler was not called up to the Switzerland squad for Euro 2016. Nevertheless, he played the minimum five league games required to be eligible for a winner's medal when Leicester became 2015–16 Premier League champions.