Quick Facts
LibraBiography
Oğuzhan Özyakup (born 23 September 1992), nicknamed Ozzie, is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Beşiktaş and the Turkish national team. A product of the Arsenal Academy and AZ Alkmaar Academy, he won the 2008–09 & 2009–10 Premier Academy League and the FA Youth Cup of 2008–09 with the Gunners.
Early years
Özyakup was born in Zaandam, to Turkish parents from city of Trabzon who immigrated to the Netherlands. His father is in wholesale nourishment business. He is youngest of two siblings. He started his career at Zaandam Türkspor, a local amateur club which Dutch players with Turkish descent were predominantly recruited, where he lated pull the attraction of AZ Alkmaar officials. He was invited to trials of AZ at the age of 11, in which he succeeded and recruited.
Özyakup signed for Arsenal on schoolboy forms on 1 September 2008, and played regularly for Arsenal Academy's side.
With this outfit the Turksman won for Arsenal the Premier Academy League of 2008–09 and 2009–10. Ozayakup also was triumphant in winning the FA Youth Cup of 2008–09 with the Gunners.
Club career
Arsenal
On 28 August 2011, Özyakup was named a substitute for the Premier League match against Manchester United in which the London-based club suffered a heavy 8–2 defeat.
0zyakup made his competitive first team debut start for Arsenal in September, 2011. This came in a League Cup match against Shrewsbury Town, where he supplied the assist for Yossi Benayoun to round off the game 3–1.
He was an unused substitute in Arsenal's Champions League Round of 16 second-leg tie against Milan, which Arsenal won 3–0 on the night, but went down 4–3 on aggregate.
Beşiktaş
Beşiktaş completed the signing of Özyakup on 8 June 2012 for a fee of €500,000. The club officially disclosed that he would make €400,000 in the 2012–13 season plus a €100,000 sign-on bonus. In June 2014 the club officially announced that it was going to pay him €1,300,000 in the 2015–16 season plus a €10,000 match bonus per game. Özyakup earned his 100th Süper Lig cap on 6 March 2016, at week 24 home game against Eskişehirspor, ended 3–1 for Beşiktaş. In May 2016, Beşiktaş chairman Fikret Orman stated that Italian side Lazio officially approached for Özyakup.
International career
Özyakup was part of the Netherlands U17 that reached the UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship final in 2009, being No.10 and captain of the team.
In 2012, at age 19, he chose to play for Turkey instead of the Netherlands.
Coincidentally Özyakup scored his first international goal for Turkey right against his birth place, the Netherlands, on 6 September 2015 in the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Style of play and reception
Özyakup is an energetic attacking-minded central midfielder. Being able to play simple and quickly, Özyakup can lead the team play. He is "skillful" at finishing and possesses high level of anticipation that allows him to be at the right place on the pitch, according to former Beşiktaş and Turkish international forward Feyyaz Uçar.
Özyakup is considered an "intelligent" player and was once called a "magician" by former Turkish international and current pundit Rıdvan Dilmen in 2015. Özyakup is praised by Dilmen for his "Zidane-like" dribbling attributes and touted to be talented enough to play for Barcelona. In 2016, Turkey national team captain Arda Turan stated that he believes that Özyakup will become the leader once he [Arda] quits the national team, describing Özyakup as an "outstanding player", being "very intelligent" and "a big talent".
Özyakup is an admirer of Zinedine Zidane and Juan Roman Riquelme.
Career statistics
Club
- As of 23 January 2017.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assist | Apps | Goals | Assist | Apps | Goals | Assist | Apps | Goals | Assist | Apps | Goals | Assist | ||
| Arsenal | 2011–12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Beşiktaş | 2012–13 | 28 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | — | — | 30 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| 2013–14 | 26 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 7 | 4 | |||
| 2014–15 | 25 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | — | 11 | 1 | 4 | 42 | 3 | 12 | |||
| 2015–16 | 31 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 10 | 8 | |||
| 2016–17 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 2 | 2 | |||
| Total | 123 | 21 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 5 | — | 22 | 2 | 5 | 159 | 24 | 34 | |||
| Career total | 123 | 21 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 2 | 5 | 161 | 24 | 35 | |
International
- As of 16 May 2016.
Scores and results table. Turkey's goal tally first:
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 6 September 2015 | Torku Arena, Konya, Turkey |  Netherlands | 1-0 | 3-0 | UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying |
Honours
Club
- Arsenal
- Premier Academy League: 2008–09, 2009–10
- FA Youth Cup: 2008–09
- Beşiktaş
- Süper Lig: 2015–16
International
UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship Silver medal - (2009)