Passed by FC Barcelona between 2015 and 2018, Arda Turan – with his 55 matches and 15 goals – did not leave a lasting memory for Catalan socios. On the other hand, the owner of the “chalet” that he rented in a residential area during his Spanish stay will not soon forget the Turkish footballer and his entourage…
After staying three years in a villa worth 18 million euros, the former midfielder is accused of having left the place in a pitiful state, with damage estimated at 230,000 euros. The case is still ongoing. The owner had won his case in court but a procedural flaw sent the actors away at the start of the match…
The expert commissioned at the time to assess the damage mentioned pieces of walls in tatters, broken household appliances or unpaid bills for various services. The amount of damage in the kitchen amounts to almost 65,000 euros, that of the electronic systems at 25,000 euros and that of the doors at 17,000 euros.
“When Arda and those who were with him were watching a match and a goal was scored, depending on who it was, they would throw the TV remote into the swimming pool,” says the owner. A thousand euro remote control! I think he threw away ten or fifteen. It’s symptomatic of people who live in another world. Sure they can’t live in levitation and there is natural wear and tear but they left cigarette burns everywhere, even on the furniture. You can imagine that in such a special house, repairing or replacing anything is neither easy nor cheap…”
To enjoy seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a cinema room, a room dedicated to virtual golf, a living room of 100 m2 and 2,500 m2 of total surface area (half of which is habitable), Turan had to pay a monthly rent of 21,000 euros. Which gave the “right” to friends of certain teammates to organize parties in his absence. During one of these evenings, they even tore out all the rails on the ceiling to use the curtains as “sex swings”.
Arda Turan, who also had problems with the Spanish tax authorities, retired from football in 2022 after a final stint at Galatasaray. Now a coach at 37, he has just been crowned in Turkish D 2 with the Eyüpspor club. Today, unlike the great Blaugrana era, the man is no longer rolling in gold.
Last November, he told the daily Sport that he was ruined after being the victim of a scam where 13 million euros went up in smoke. “All my savings were lost in an instant,” he explained, accusing Seçil Erzan, director of a bank subsidiary in Istanbul. He deceived me by saying “whoever invests in this fund will make profits”. I gave away all the money and effort I had earned. The work of several years suddenly disappeared. »
