Should Liverpool and Manchester United target Arda Turan?

Arda Turan

Arda Turan finished the 2012-13 season as one of Atletico Madrid’s best players and one of the key reasons behind Diego Simeone’s men qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. Naturally he was linked with a move away over the following summer transfer window to several clubs in world football, and while a move didn’t eventuate, reports from The Express indicate that the winger may be a transfer target once more in the upcoming January window.

Turan’s agent Ahmet Bulut was quoted in the report as saying that “he [Turan] wants to work in England” due to the fact that “a destination in the Premier League would be to the liking of the player”. He also confirmed that several English clubs (including both Liverpool and Manchester United) were interested in the 26-year-old, and while that may or may not be the case, it certainly provides for an interesting option for several clubs this January.

The question is as to whether Turan is capable of producing last season’s form again, with a somewhat sluggish start to this year compared to his dominance in 2012.

Despite missing a handful of games due to injury, Turan was one La Liga’s best wingers last season. He showed great attacking strength playing as an inverted winger on the left-hand side—creating the second-highest number of goal-scoring chances out of any Atletico Madrid player, behind Koke. He wasn’t afraid to take defenders on one-on-one situations either, and showed real potency from any dead-ball situation as well, where he picked up a number of assists.

The winger didn’t shirk on his defensive responsibilities either—winning an exceptional 88% of his attempted tackles —and proved to be a constant threat for the Atleti out wide.

However, the same hasn’t quite transpired this season, and such a dip in form will certainly lead many to question whether the winger is worth trying to snatch of Atletico this summer.

Turan has scored just one goal and created eight chances this year for Atletico, which are certainly quite low given how well the Madrid-based club have started the year. His pass accuracy is down from 84 percent to 81 percent, and he hasn’t brought the same activity in defence as he did last year—winning just 15 tackles in 12 appearances.

Obviously it’s hard to judge the winger on just one season (and only half a season at that), but at the same time, it’s also worth noting that last season’s performances must be put in the context of his career as a whole. After all, if he can’t produce for Atletico when the club are playing such dominant football in both Europe and Spain, teams around the world aren’t exactly going to jump to the gun to try and lure him off Atletico in the January transfer window.

The Express reports that Turan has a buyout clause of £33 million from the recent contract that he signed with Atletico, which will mean a substantial bid is needed to grab him this summer.

And while the individual talent is certainly there—as was clear last year—without the consistency to match that so far this season, it seems unlikely that such an offer will come in from Manchester United, Liverpool nor any other Premier League club anytime soon.