German Bundesliga powerhouse Borussia Dortmund is reportedly eyeing FC Barcelona’s Arda Turan as a potential replacement for England-bound midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The 29-year-old Turkey international was acquired by the La Liga champions last summer in a €34 million deal with Atletico Madrid and was signed to a five-year contract. However, he was able to appear in his debut game for the Catalan giants only in January of this year after the club’s transfer ban was lifted by FIFA.
Turan had scored two goals and three assists in 18 appearances in the Spanish top flight last term for Barça mostly playing in the midline behind Luis Enrique’s attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar.
Caught Offside reported that Dortmund is “looking to replace Manchester United bound Mkhitaryan”, who recently left the club to move to England with the Red Devils.
The 27-year-old Armenia captain had played three seasons for Die Borussen, appearing in a total of 136 games in all competitions and scoring 40 goals in the said time span, before deciding to switch to the Premier League.
With the midfield gap created by the departure of last season’s Bundesliga Player of the Year awardee, Dortmund is said to be keen on finding a suitable substitute for the Yerevan, Armenia native and Turan is their first choice replacement.
Meanwhile, the Daily Express indicated that Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel “sees Turan as the ideal player to take his club to the next level”.
The report also mentioned that Turan is close friends with BVB midfielder Nuri Şahin, a fellow Turkey international, and so he could be persuaded by the latter to leave Camp Nou for the Signal Iduna Park. Dortmund also has another Turkish player, 18-year-old winger Emre Mor, who is also a part of the national squad.
If Turan accepts the offer, then he will be the third Turkish player under Tuchel’s guidance next season.
Turan was said to be “largely underused” by the Blaugrana during his debut campaign last season and it may cause him to want to jump ship this summer.
The Barcelona return of 22-year-old attacking midfielder Denis Suarez from Villarreal earlier this month will also make Turan slide further down the pecking order in Catalonia, which could finally prompt the Fatih, Turkey native to leave for Germany.
