Arda Turan was once considered the best Turkish player of his time. In his golden age, Turan was one of the important elements in the diesel engine operated by Diego Simeone in Atletico Madrid. He scored a total of 13 goals in 127 appearances during his four career seasons at the Vicente Calderon.
Unfortunately, some dark news were currently faced by Turan.
He closed his career at Atletico with an incident that made Spain nervous. Competing in the Copa Del Rey quarter-final against Barcelona, Turan’s mind was in the fierce mode.
Turan shoes were accidentally loose after getting a tackle. The referee, strangely, did not give him a violation card. Getting angry for being ignored by the referee, Turan took his shoes, then threw them towards the assistant referee. Turan was lucky enough because the referee only gave him a yellow card, and avoided any sanctions despite taking the action that was too extreme.
Turan also left his dream club, Barcelona, in the summer of 2015. Because at that time, the Blaugrana was serving a transfer embargo, Turan could only be registered in January 2016. He ended the season with a record of 18 matches. His number of appearances, in fact, did not increase in the next 12 months during the 2016/17 season.
At the end of the season, he was involved in an incident which this time seemed more terrible. In June 2017, after defending the Turkish national team, he reportedly attacked a senior journalist. On June 5th before the plane took off, Turan visited a 70-year-old journalist named Bilal Mese who had previously written about the problems surrounding bonuses for Turkish players. He shouted at Bilal with harsh words, then strangled the journalist’s neck. He could have beaten the old man before Burak Yilmaz and Caner Erkin prevented him.
Turan’s career after that was practically getting worse. He didn’t play for Barcelona at all during the 2017/18 season. Ernesto Valverde had no longer regarded him as the main team player. He was then recruited by Istanbul Basaksehir on January 2018. His action turned out to continue.
On May 4, 2018, when his team faced Sivasspor, Turan rose again. Getting disappointed by the line judge because he did not give him a violation, Turan went to the line judge, confronted him frontally then pushed the court-man in both hands. He got a red card. After the match, he was given a 16-match suspension from the Turkish football federation. He was forced to miss up to almost half the schedule in that season.
Turan’s psychological may be shaken. He, again, caused controversy which even happened outside the field and involved firearms. As reported by Marca, Turan was involved in a commotion at a nightclub in October 2018.
As reported by Turkish media, Turan approached and teased Ozlem Ada, the wife of a famous Turkish singer, Berkay Sahin. “You are really beautiful. If you are not married you will not be able to escape from me,” Sahin said about what Turan said. Sahin then challenged Turan. His challenge made Turan was furious and turned back. Sahin suffered a nose injury which caused him and his wife to be rushed to the hospital.
Turan decided to visit Sahin at the hospital to apologize. In his petition, Turan was in fact, not clear-minded. He carried a firearm, handed it to Sahin then said, “If you feel I am teasing your wife, please shoot me.”
Sahin was shocked and then secured the gun which was immediately captured by Turan. Turan was frustrated then fired the weapon on the floor, which of course made the whole hospital panic.
While Sahin was charged for insulting Turan, Turan’s fate was a little worse. He was charged with possession of illegal firearms and carrying firearms to public places. Turan could be sentenced to 15 years imprisonment if the court convicted him.
We still don’t know about the end of Arda Turan’s career. The clear thing is that Barcelona seemed to have dumped him. He was loaned to Istanbul for two and a half seasons which made him not return to Camp Nou…
