Turkish Players Playing In Spain
With the recent news of Barcelona legend Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, it has prompted us to take a look at the Turkish players who are currently playing in the Spanish top-flight and in particular, La Liga.
The Spanish La Liga is one of the best in the world with many world-class names having graced the pitches of the Nou Camp, Bernabéu and others such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Neymar, Ronaldinho and several others from countries around the world. Surprisingly, there are relatively few Turkish players who have made the trip to Spain given that dozens feature in each of the German, French and Dutch leagues.
Our friends over at Which Bookie have put together a list of four Turkish players currently playing in the Spanish Leagues.
Emre Mor (Celta Vigo)
Emre Mor has notched up 15 caps for the Turkish national side and is a well-known name in his home country. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and started his national career playing for Denmark Under 17s, 18s & 19s before switching to play for Turkey in 2016 which he was able to do so given that his father is Turkish.
The 24 year old started his club career with Danish Superliga side Nordsjælland where he spent just one season before moving to Borussia Dortmund. He made 12 appearances for the Bundesliga giants before being signed by La Liga club Celta Vigo for €13 million. After a season at the Spanish club, Mor was sent out on loan to Galatasaray following concerns about his attitude. It wasn’t long before Mor was moved on again, this time to Greece to play for Olympiacos. Olympiacos do have the option to purchase Mor on a permanent deal based on certain conditions but for now, he remains a player of Celta Vigo.
Okay Yokuşlu (Celta Vigo)
Okay Yokuşlu is another Turkish player signed for Spanish club Celta Vigo and similar to Mor, he has been shipped out on loan this year.
The Turkish midfielder who has played for the national team since he was 15 years old, has 35 senior caps under his belt along with 69 for the U15s – U21s. He spent seven years playing in the Turkish Super Lig with Kayserispor and Trabzonspor before making the move to Celta Vigo where he made 66 appearances since 2018 and scored 2 goals.
At the beginning of February 2021, Yokuşlu joined English Championship club West Bromwich Albion, who were then playing in the Premier League, but was unable to help his team remain in the top-flight.
Enes Ünal (Getafe)
Despite being just 24 years of ages, Enes Ünal has played for several Spanish clubs including Villarreal, Levante, Valladolid and his current club, Getafe. The striker has scored 22 goals in Spain in 126 appearances with the majority of his goals being scored when on loan to Valladolid in LaLiga 2.
Ünal was actually signed by Premier League champions Manchester City in 2015 for a fee of £2 million from Bursaspor but was sent out on loan for the majority of the time as a City player with spells at Genk, NAC Breda and Twente.
He’s made 22 appearances for Turkey at a senior level and was included in their Euro 2020 campaign earlier this year in which they were eliminated following a string of poor results in the group stages.
Kubilay Koylu (Racing Murcia)
Kubilay Koylu may not be a household name but he has recently made the trip to play in Spain so he makes the list.
The 22 year old has spent most of his career playing in the Derde Divisie which is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands. In July 2021, he was transferred from Dutch side Kozakken Boys to Racing Murcia who play in the Tercera División in Spain.
