What on earth has happened to this guy?
Arda Turan’s career has been on a downward spiral ever since he left Atlético Madrid. When he was tempted by the bright lights of Barcelona, he found himself hardly ever playing, back of the queue behind several other players includes Andre Gomes and Denis Suarez.
To try to get his career back on track, he returned to his native Turkey, joining İstanbul Başakşehir on loan from Barça. He’s enjoyed a slight upturn in form, but he’ll never be the same player we saw in red and white.
He’s always been a hot head too; once in Spain he threw one of his boots in the direction an official in frustration at a decision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YT7x0YAlIE
Knowing this is what he is capable of when tempers flare, it won’t surprise you to find out that he’s been at it again, this time physically shoving the assistant referee during a Turkis Super Liga match, earning himself a 16 match ban in the process.
Arda Turan has a MELTDOWN 🤬
Sent off for pushing the linesman in a crucial title race clash 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/RDNCzaEL4J
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) May 4, 2018
The ban might seem harsh but it’s broken down into 10 games for the push, three more for verbal insults and three more for threatening the referee. He was also fined 39,000 lira (£7,000).
It happened during a crucial match too – Başakşehir are now two places and three points behind Galatasaray with two games remaining in what has been one of the closest title races in Europe this season.
His teammates will not be best pleased with their star player for ruling himself out of the remaining fixtures.
