Arda Turan

Arda Turan
Personal information
Full name	Arda Turan
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfield/Left winger
Team information
Current team	Galatasaray
Number	66
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 13:30, 11 June 2009 (GMT)

Arda Turan (born January 30, 1987), is a Turkish footballer playing for Galatasaray and the Turkish national team. Already a regular in the Fatih Terim's Turkish team at the age of 22, he currently has over 30 senior international caps. In July 2008, Arda was ranked 8th in the selection of the 100 Best Young Football Players in the World as published by Spanish magazine Don Balón.^[1]

Club career

Galatasaray

He is a product of the Galatasaray youth system, but initially came to light once being on loan to Manisaspor in the 2005–06 season. He was recalled the for the start of the following season, and made a regular start in the first team. It was during this time that he received his first senior international call up. Arda quickly impressed manager Eric Gerets with his performances early in the 2006–07 season. After his performances in the Champions League qualifiers which led Galatasaray to the group stage, Arda became a first team regular.

Arda continued his development in the 2007–08 season. Despite a poor start to the season, Arda improved his performances immensely, scoring seven goals in the second half of the season. He scored a hat-trick against Sivasspor on 4 May 2008. Following his impressive displays domestically, Newcastle United made a £9m offer to buy Arda prior to the Euro 2008 championships, but the Galatasaray chairman rejected the offer.^[2]

International career

Arda is an international regular having made over 30 appearances for Turkey at senior level. He made his debut in the 2–0 friendly victory over Luxembourg in August 2006, having worked his way through the youth National Team at U19 and U21 level. He scored his first international goal on May 25, 2008 in a friendly against Uruguay.

Euro 2008

Arda featured in nine of Turkey's twelve qualification matches for Euro 2008, and starred in the finals of the tournament itself. He scored two goals during Turkey's progression to the semi-finals. The first was a 92nd minute winner against the Swiss in their second group game to knock them out of the competition. His second came in the final group game against the Czech Republic, in which the winner would go through to the quarter-finals due to identical records. He scored Turkey's first goal in the 75th minute, beating Petr Cech with a low shot, which lead to Turkey coming from 2-0 down to win the match. He also successfully converted a spot-kick in the penalty shootout against Croatia in the quarter-finals, taking Turkey to the semi's where they were eventually knocked out by losing finalists Germany.

Career statistics

Club

**Club Performance**
Turkey	Season	Super League			Turkish Cup			Super cup			Europe			Total
Turkey	Season	App	Goals	Assts	App	Goals	Assts	App	Goals	Assts	App	Goals	Assts	App	Goals	Assts
Galatasaray	2008–09	28	8	9	6	2	1	0	0	0	11	2	4	45	12	14
	2007–08	30	7	14	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	1	4	44	8	18
	2006–07	26	5	7	3	1	0	0	0	0	7	2	3	36	8	10
Manisaspor (loan)	2005–06	15	2	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	2	5
Galatasaray	2004–05	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Total		100	22	35	16	3	1	0	0	0	25	5	11	141	30	47
Correct as of 1 June 2009

International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	25 May 2008	Bochum, Germany	Uruguay	1–0	2–3	Friendly
2.	11 June 2008	Basel, Switzerland	Switzerland	1–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008
3.	15 June 2008	Geneva, Switzerland	Czech Republic	1–2	3–2	UEFA Euro 2008
4.	11 October 2008	Istanbul, Turkey	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–1	2–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)
Correct as of 5 June 2009