Fenerbahçe striker Robin van Persie praised former teammate Oğuzhan Özyakup following his impressive performance for Beşiktaş against Mersin on Sunday 16 August according to Milliyet.

The 22-year-old midfielder setup Cenk Tosun with the first goal and also provided the assist for his hat-trick. Özyakup also setup Olcay Şahan with a well-timed pass from inside the penalty area.

The Turkish international completed 44 passes with an 86 percent accuracy and made a total of six key passes in the 74 minutes he played against Mersin. Özyakup scored a 9.10 rating for his performance according to Whoscored.

Özyakup joined Beşiktaş from Arsenal in 2012 for a fee of €500,000 and established a close bond with Van Persie who took the youngster under his wing during his time at the North London based club.

The Beşiktaş star was actually born in Holland and captained the Dutch side to the final of the 2009 Under-17 European Championships before switching allegiances to the Turkish national team.

“To be honest it is mostly Robin [who I look up to] because he is Dutch and he really looks after me outside of football as well,” Ozyakup told Arsenal.com in 2011.

“There are more off-field things as well and I am really, really happy he looks after me like this. I never expected him to help me that much but I am really thankful that he does that for me.

“Obviously on his Twitter feed he says little things like congratulations – it is those little things he does that are perfect and what I look up to.”

Van Persie joined rival Istanbul club Fenerbahçe from Manchester United over the summer on a deal reported to be worth £4.7 million. The experienced striker made his league debut in the 2-0 win over Eskişehirspor on Friday 14 August.
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