Oğuzhan Özyakup

Early years

Özyakup was born in Zaandam, Netherlands, to Turkish parents from the city of Trabzon who emigrated to the Netherlands. His father is into the wholesale nourishment business. Oğuzhan is the youngest of two siblings. Özyakup began his career at Zaandam Türkspor, a local amateur club which Dutch players with Turkish descent were predominantly recruited, where he later caught the attraction of AZ officials. He was invited to trials of AZ at age 11, in which he succeeded and was recruited.

Arsenal

Özyakup signed for Arsenal on schoolboy forms on 1 September 2008, going on to play regularly for Arsenal's Academy. With the Academy, Özyakup won the Premier Academy League of 2008–09 and 2009–10. He also was triumphant in lifting the FA Youth Cup of 2008–09 with the Gunners. 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. He made his competitive first-team debut in September 2011 in a League Cup match against Shrewsbury Town, where he supplied the assist for Yossi Benayoun to round off the match 3–1. Özyakup was an unused substitute in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie to Milan, which Arsenal won 3–0 on the night but lost 4–3 on aggregate.

Beşiktaş

2012–2015

Beşiktaş J.K. completed the signing of Özyakup from Arsenal, on 8 June 2012 for a €500,000 transfer fee with a reported 4 season of length and €400,000…

Özyakup was part of the Netherlands national under-17 team which reached the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship final in 2009, wearing the number 10 jersey and captaining the team. In 2012, at age 19, Özyakup chose to play for Turkey instead of the Netherlands. Coincidentally, Özyakup scored his first international goal for Turkey right against the Netherlands on 6 September 2015 in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.

Özyakup is an energetic attacking-minded central midfielder. Under Slaven Bilić, he was used as an attacking midfielder but Şenol Güneş moved him back to central midfield, which Özyakup himself prefers. Being able to play simple and quickly, Özyakup can lead the team play. He is "skillful" at finishing and possesses a 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. In 2015, former Croatian international and Beşiktaş manager Slaven Bilić praised dribbling and passing abilities of Özyakup, likening him to a "snake" due to his slalom-alike opponent-passing dribbling style. Özyakup was called a "magician" by former Turkish international and current pundit Rıdvan Dilmen in 2015. Dilmen also said that Özyakup was an "intelligent" player, praised his "Zinedine Zidane-like" dribbling attributes and claimed that he was talented enough to play for Barcelona. In 2016, Turkey national team captain Arda Turan stated he believes Özyakup will become the leader once he (Turan) quits the national team, describing Özyakup as an "outstanding player", being "very intelligent" and "a big talent". Özyakup is an admirer of the playmaking styles of Zinedine Zidane and the Argentine Juan Román Riquelme.

Club

As of match played 7 May 2023

International

Turkey score listed first, score column indicates score after each Özyakup goal