Arda Turan ends loan spell at Istanbul Basaksehir and returns to Barcelona

Turkish footballer Arda Turan ended his loan spell at Istanbul Basaksehir on Tuesday and will rejoin Barcelona after two years marked by a long suspension and a court conviction.

"In a meeting yesterday (Monday), our player Arda Turan asked our president Goksel Gumusdag for permission to leave and write a new chapter in his career. Gumusdag responded positively and our player's contract was terminated accordingly by mutual agreement," the Turkish club said in a statement.

Turan, 32, had joined Basaksehir in January 2018 on loan from Barcelona, where he failed to make an impact after his transfer from Atletico Madrid in 2016.

His time in Turkey, where he only played in 39 matches across all competitions in two years, was mostly marked by a 16-match suspension in May 2018 for assaulting a referee, and a two-year and eight-month prison sentence, suspended, in September 2019 for assaulting a famous Turkish singer outside a nightclub.

Arda Turan, one of the most well-known Turkish footballers, is also famous for his support of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also for his misconduct both on and off the field.