£32.5m Chelsea target beaten by group of men with a belt in bizarre incident

Bayer Leverkusen star Hakan Calhanoglu was beaten by a group of men with a belt in Bayburt, Turkey.

Before you get worried it was all part of a bizarre wedding custom from the region in which the men participating in the tradition hit each other with belts.

See More: How Chelsea’s 3-4-3 could lineup if £32.5 target Hakan Calhanoglu joins

Now you may be wondering what Calhanoglu getting beat with a belt has to do with a potential summer exit.

Calhanoglu was also quoted as saying that he would get married in May and then join Chelsea.

Hurriyet published quotes claiming Calhanoglu had said: “I will have my wedding in a few months and then god willing, I will be a Chelsea player next season, there are also other clubs that want me.”

The playmaker took to Twitter to refute the quotes but the newspaper involved never retracted the news or issued an apology.

I said nothing about Chelsea in the press & didn’t talk to any Turkish journalist – neither about the court decision nor about my future!

— Hakan Çalhanoğlu (@hakanc10) February 6, 2017

In fact they continue to link Calhanoglu with a summer move.

Calhanoglu married Sinem Gundogudu in Mannheim, Germany, earlier this month.

Reports followed that Bayer are prepared to sell Calhanoglu over the summer and that he has been transfer listed.

BILD Sport claim that Calhanoglu wants to leave the Bundesliga outfit at the end of the season.

The 23-year-old has a £32.5 million release clause option and does have another three-years remaining on his contract.

Calhanoglu’s agent Bektas Demirtas remained coy on Chelsea interest recently, neither confirming nor denying the transfer link.

“It is said that Hakan is on the radar of Chelsea, what I will comment on is that Atletico Madrid tried to transfer Calhanoglu but the Bayer Leverkusen said no,” Demirtas was quoted as saying by the Italian version of Eurosport. 

“Now the situation has changed and Calhanoglu could soon say goodbye,”