The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Arda Turan: From Barca to (Almost) Jail

The story of Arda Turan represents the embodiment of both triumph and tragedy. He realized the wildest dream for a Turkish player — playing for Barca. In a dramatic turn of events, he fell from grace! So fast and so spectacular.

For anyone with a decent understanding and love for football, Barcelona represents the embodiment of a philosophy imbued with the most affectionate and positive sides of this beautiful game. Barcelona’s very own brand is indeed associated with art, an aesthetic form of football that turned the Catalan club into a powerful icon of global soccer, generating devoted fans from China to Argentina, from Russia to the Gulf countries where the passionate enthusiasm for the next World Cup (in Qatar) is already remaking the region’s soccer landscape.

And playing for Barcelona, for any football player around the world, represents the wildest dream, something that occurs only to a tiny group of players blessed by as much talent as Fortuna (or destiny.) Arda Turan, a Turkish national soccer star, was one of those lucky players who wore that blessed jersey alongside Messi, Neymar and Suarez, the trio that once formed the most…