Arda Turan Joins Galatasaray and Emerges From Exile

Instead, there are only a handful, and at his peak Turan was prime among them. He became a barometer not only for other players — “any Turkish player who does well in Europe, they say after three games he is better than Arda” — but something beyond a soccer player. Turan is, more than anything, a celebrity.

That is how he is treated: by the news media, which he said nurtures an obsession with “how much my shirt cost, how much my watch cost, that I go to the airport in sunglasses,” and by the public, too. Turan is, to some extent, better understood as the star of a reality show he does not really want to be in. “I know people love me,” he said. “If I walk in the street, everyone tells me to wake up, to come back. Until I was 24, I was good. I was Arda, the golden boy.

“But then when the success comes, the good cars, things change. Now, people are happy with me being in crisis.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/sports/soccer/arda-turan-galatasaray-barcelona.html