Arda Turan signs 1.5-year contract with Turkish league leader Başakşehir

ISTANBUL

Turkish international midfielder Arda Turan will be back in the Turkish Super League following a more than six-year hiatus, after signing a one-and-a-half year contract on Jan. 15 with league leader Başakşehir.

The Istanbul club has agreed to a loan deal with Barcelona for the player, with an option to buy, club chairman Göksel Gümüşdağ said at a signing ceremony.

Turan will be paid 2 million euros plus bonuses for the remaining of the season and 4 million euros plus bonuses for the next season.

Başakşehir will pay Barcelona 300,000 euros only if the club wins the Turkish league title, Gümüşdağ said.

Turan said he was happy to be back in his home country.

“I came here believing in the club, believing in what Göksel Gümüşdağ told me,” Turan told reporters.

“We have been talking about everything with [Başakşehir coach] Abdullah Avcı like brothers. Now I will be here as a professional player. I will be back in active football, that’s why I’m really excited,” he said.

Turan, who played for Atletico Madrid for four season from 2011 before moving to Barcelona for 35 million euros, said he was not physically ready.

“I have been training, but I lack match fitness,” he said.

“I will be on the pitch whenever my coaches feel I’m ready. We are the biggest favorites for the league title. Every game will be a final and God willing, we will be champions,” said Turan.

Turan quit international football early last year after being thrown out of a training camp by former coach Fatih Terim following a fracas with a reporter on a plane.

But the subsequent departure of Terim, which also came in the wake of a fistfight, opened the way for Turan’s recall in August 2017 under Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu.

With Turan in the squad, Turkey has failed to qualify for this summer’s 2018 World Cup in Russia.