Arda Turan
on waiting months for his Barça debut
You joined Barcelona last summer but couldn’t play during your first seven months at the club because of their transfer embargo. How did you deal with that disruption? When I felt any doubt, I just thought about my childhood, because Barça is my dream club. To wear this shirt, to become friends with Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar… I had good motivation to wait and to be patient. I have been playing 40 to 50 games every season for a long time, so I spared some time just for myself. There were a couple of books I’d been meaning to read, and Luis Enrique sometimes gave me three or four days off to get out and learn the city. There were a couple of downsides to my situation but I turned them into positives.
Why didn’t you go out on loan? Barcelona made a huge investment in me and I didn’t want to disrespect that. If I had gone to another team on loan I could have got injured, and that wouldn’t have been fair to the club. I wanted to show my gratitude.
You also had the strange situation that the deal was dependent on Barça’s presidential election. You could have gone back to Atletico Madrid if Josep Maria Bartomeu had lost. Were you concerned? No, because Luis Enrique wanted me and that was all that mattered. Josep Maria Bartomeu was also very nice, so I had no hesitation or doubt.
Did you feel like an outsider during the long wait for your Barcelona debut, or did it help that Aleix Vidal, who had arrived from Sevilla, was in the same boat? Aleix is a bit younger than me so I needed to help him overcome the situation, and we became very good friends. We trained together when the team had a game. I didn’t feel like an outsider, as Luis Suarez [right] went through a similar thing with his ban so he shared his experience with me. Every player helped out.
You finally played in January, then in March you scored your first goal for the club, against Rayo Vallecano. How did that feel? It was our fifth goal in that game but it meant so much to me. I had been dreaming of playing for Barça and it was a great feeling after six months without a single game. Barcelona are the biggest club in the world and their style is perfect for me. At Galatasaray and Atletico Madrid there were fewer spotlights on me; Barcelona is the world’s best club so there are millions of spotlights here, but I’m experienced enough not to feel any pressure. I used to be a good player but after coming to Barcelona I started to see myself as more of a complete footballer.
How does the training compare between Luis Enrique and your former coach Diego Simeone? I learned so much from Simeone. I used to think defending was all about chasing the other team’s full-back for 90 minutes, but he taught me the importance of the core, and helped me to improve the positional aspect of my game. His style was more defensive and strict, so training was much heavier. Luis Enrique has a different approach. We always use the ball at training, even when we’re working on conditioning. He wants us to always be comfortable with the ball at our feet. It’s much more fun!
Are Messi, Suarez and Neymar the greatest front three in history? I don’t know if they are the best but I can say they are one of the best. You give the ball to them and they change the scoreboard in the blink of an eye! It’s almost impossible to take the ball away from their feet. They have no complexes and they are constantly making jokes in the dressing room. We’re like a family.
As captain of Turkey, are you looking forward to facing some of that family at Euro 2016, with Spain and Croatia in your group? We’ve been making lots of jokes about it at Barcelona since the draw. I’ll swap shirts with Sergio Busquets after the Spain game. But they know that we’re a tough team and that we won’t step back, no matter how strong they are. Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic, my former Atletico Madrid team-mate, are also very excited. I think it’s an entertaining group as well as a tough one.
Turkey reached Euro 2016 as the best third-placed team. Was it complicated trying to work out whether you’d qualified or not? Before the final game, [coach] Fatih Terim’s daughter texted him about our possible play-off opponents, but he replied: “No need – we will qualify directly!” Everybody said we did it by luck but we won all of our last three games without conceding. We all believed in ourselves. Qualifying ahead of the Dutch gave us huge confidence. There are inexperienced players in our squad, so they needed that. We may not have many names known worldwide, but football is not an individual sport. Messi is the best player in the world, but even he’s not strong enough to help Argentina win something. If we realise that we’re much stronger as a team, you might see some surprises at the Euros. We’re not afraid of anyone.