Beşiktaş midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup was one of the most highly rated players in the Arsenal academy during his time at the North London based club.
Three-years on since leaving the Gunners he has started to really make a name for himself in Turkey and his recent performances have not gone unnoticed.
Arsenal have shown an interest in their former rising star according to Talksport and Turkish sports newspaper Fanatik report that the Gunners have been keeping close tabs on the 22-year-old.
So how good is Özaykup and what would he offer Arsenal other than another Ö?
1. Arsenal philosophy
Özyakup will be a name familiar to Arsenal youth football aficionados. He grew up under Arsene Wenger’s footballing philosophy and admired former Gunners stars such as Cecs Fabregaas as a youngster. The Turkish international played a major role in Arsenal’s Under-18s side that won the Premier Academy League title in 2009 and made a few appearances in cup competitions for the Gunners before joining Beşiktaş in 2012 for a fee of €500,000. The young midfielder has stayed in contact with some of his former teammates, knows the club inside out and would not have any
Arsene Wenger recently revealed that he was impressed with the progress Özyakup has shown and that he was always fond of the player: “I’m happy that he came here, he was educated by us and we saw that he had top quality and technically he is very good. Physically he can run all day, he has very good stamina and a good final pass.”
