Ozyakup reveals Cesc Fabregas was his mentor at Arsenal

Arsenal have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Besiktas playmaker Oguzhan Ozyakup.

Besitkas midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup revealed that Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas was his mentor at Arsenal.

Özyakup was quoted in HaberTurk as saying: “When I joined Arsenal my style was similar to Cesc Fabregas, we would train together and I learned so much from him.”

The Turkish international midfielder also stated that Fabregas had great awareness and also made the right decisions.

“He had the ability to think before his opponents, he knew where he would pass before even receiving the pass, his decision making ability was incredible,” he added.

Özyakup was an Arsenal youth player and made a few cup appearances for the senior team before joining Beşiktaş in 2012 for a fee of €500,000.

The 22-year-old was 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.

Özyakup struggled to really find his feet under the stewardship of former boss Slaven Bilic but is expected to feature as a key member of Şenol Güneş’s side this season.

The Turkish international midfielder provided three assists in his opening game of the season and was praised for his impressive performance.

Beşiktaş beat Mersin 5-2 last weekend and take on Trabzonspor at home next at the Atatürk Olympic stadium.

Trabzonspor also won their opening game of the season beating Bursaspor 1-0 at the Avni Aker.

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