Besiktas midfielder Oğuzhan Özyakup revealed that Chelsea star Cesc Fabregas is his idol.
The Turkish international midfielder revealed that Zinedine Zidane was his idol growing up until he met Fabregas at Arsenal.
The 22-year-old revealed that Fabregas took him under his wing during his time in the Arsenal youth setup.
“When I was young my idol was Zinedine Zidan because he was the best technical player going, he was everything before anyone else and was the best play in the world,” Ozyakup was quoted as saying in HaberTurk.
“However, after I joined Arsenal, Fabregas became my idol.”
Fabregas left Arsenal for Barcelona before a controversial move to Premier League rivals Chelsea.
Özyakup will be a name familiar to Premier League youth football aficionados.
The young midfielder played a major role in Arsenal’s Under-18s side that won the Premier Academy League title in 2009 and made a few appearances in cup competitions for the Gunners before joining Beşiktaş in 2012 for a fee of €500,000.
Özyakup struggled for regular first team football under Slaven Bilic last season but is expected to become a key player under new head coach Şenol Güneş.
