Date of birth 30 January 1987 (age 24)
Place of birth Istanbul, Turkey
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 72 kg
Playing position Left winger
Arda Turan (born 30 January 1987) is a Turkish footballer who plays for Galatasaray and the Turkish national team. At the age of 22, prior to the 2009–10 season he was made the captain of Galatasaray.
Turan plays as a left winger and is noted for his exceptional dribbling and passing ability.
Arda already has over 40 senior national caps and 10 goals for Turkey, and following a successful Euro 2008 campaign, he was ranked 8th in a selection of the 100 Best Young Football Players in the World, published by Spanish magazine Don Balón in July 2008.
In January 2010, Arda was voted as the most popular European footballer of 2009, and the second most popular footballer in the world, by the IFFHS.
Club career
Galatasaray
Arda is a product of the Galatasaray youth system, and had a successful spell on loan to fellow Super Lig side Manisaspor in the 2005–06 season. He was recalled the for the start of the following season, and quickly broke into 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. 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.
At the start of the 2009–10 season, Arda was handed the captaincy of Galatasaray, and was handed squad number 10, which had previously belonged to Metin Oktay and Gheorghe Hagi, having previously worn number 66.
As captain at the start of the 2009–10 season, he guided his team to six consecutive league wins games which put Galatasaray comfortably at the top of the table. He has scored seven goals and registered 17 assists in all competitions so far this season.
In the 2010-2011 season, Arda Turan, was troubled with injuries and played a limited amount of games. By the end of the season Arda Turan had only played in 12 league games which he scored 2 goals and 3 cup games which he scored 1 goal in.
International career
Arda is an international regular having made over 40 appearances for Turkey at senior level. He made his debut in the 1–0 friendly victory over Luxembourg on August 16, 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 Čech 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 semis where they were eventually knocked out by losing finalists Germany.
2010 World Cup
Arda scored two goals during the qualification rounds of the World Cup, but ultimately Turkey failed to qualify from their group. After a qualifier in September 2008 between Armenia and Turkey, two sides which have historical political problems, both teams received a FIFA Fair Play Award for 2008. He scored the Turkish national team's 600th international goal, in a 2010 World Cup qualification game against Estonia on 5 September 2009.
Euro 2012
Arda has scored three goals so far during the qualification rounds of the UEFA Euro 2012, one against Kazakhstan, one against Belgium and one against Austria.
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