Barcelona paid $35 million for him, now he's been swindled and lost it all

The professional careers of soccer players are very short. In the best of cases, they can last 15 or even 20 years. Other times they end much sooner. And they must find another activity to pursue. Some remain involved in the sport, as coaches, sport directors, agents or media commentators. And others choose a life away from the pressures of soccer.

This former Barcelona player was a star in La Liga. With Atlético Madrid he played 178 games between 2011 and 2015, in which he scored 22 goals and provided 27 assists. In addition, he won the Spanish league title in 2014. His good performances aroused the interest of Barcelona, who decided to pay more than $35 million for him in 2015. But at the Catalan side things did not go as expected and after only two seasons he left. He then had a brief experience at Istanbul BB in Turkey and finally retired at just 33 years old.

He is Arda Turan. The former Turkish midfielder shone in Europe, but his off-field problems prevented him from sustaining himself in the soccer elite. And now he is coach of Eyüpspor, the leaders of the Turkish second division standings. But he has serious problems that have nothing to do with the sport.

Turan was the victim of a scam by former Denizbank Levent bank manager Secil Erzan, who is under investigation for allegedly defrauding more than 40 sports stars of a total value of $44 million. The case is now in the hands of the 14th High Criminal Court of Istanbul.

He is very sad

In an interview, Turan explained details of what happened: "He tricked me by saying: 'Whoever invests in this fund will make a profit'. I gave away more than $13 million. All the money and effort I had earned. He destroyed all the money and effort I earned by working for years, deceiving me. I am very sorry, this incident really drained me. All my savings were lost in an instant."