Ex-Arsenal academy graduate Oguzhan Ozyakup still doesn’t talk to Robin van Persie after the Dutchman mocked him during a cup tie last season.
Ozyakup’s Besiktas and van Persie’s Fenerbahce met in the Turkish Cup quarter-final. There were a couple of individual battles between the two, and a few words exchanged, but it was what happened next that changed Ozyakup’s view on the Dutchman.
Van Persie managed to score to put Fenerbahce ahead, and immediately looked round to see where Ozyakup was, before sprinting over to knee-slide in front of him with a mad look in his eye.
Ozyakup said at the time: “I was very good friends with a certain player on the field. That changed today. Sometimes you see the real face of a footballer on the field,” reports the Mirror.
Now the player has added: “We still do not talk, usually players make up after games but this was different. Maybe we will make up one day but it will not be the same as before. I do not really want to talk about this to be honest.
“I do not think I was in the wrong, if anything I was wrong to show Robin as much respect as I did.” As usual, van Persie goes around conducting himself with a level of class usually reserved for matches on the school playground.
I’m not surprised he continues to turn people away from him. It must all be worth it though, when he brings home the trophy at the end of the season. Except, the Dutchman has failed to bring home any trophies with Fenerbahce.
In fact, Ozyakup and Besiktas have won the league every single season van Persie has been in Turkey. Perhaps that explains why he was so worked up. There’s always the next season.
Perhaps the 34-year-old can finally add to the three major trophies he’s won in his career, a total Mesut Özil has beaten in just the four years since the Dutchman last won anything – three FA Cups and a World Cup.