Arda Turan retires from international football after scuffle with journalist

F.C Barcelona’s Arda Turan announced his retirement from the Turkey national team in the aftermath of a heated scuffle with a journalist.

Barcelona winger Arda Turan has called curtains on his international career in the wake of an alleged heated confrontation with a journalist.

Arda Turan retired from international football after getting into a scuffle with a journalist. (AFP)

The 30-year-old winger was at the centre of allegations of a bust-up with a journalist during Turkey’s flight back from Monday night’s friendly against Macedonia.

He was reported to have clashed with reporter Bilal Mese during the flight. Outraged that the journalist was on the plane, Arda is said to have grabbed him by the throat and shouted at him.

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Later on, the Barcelona winger slammed the media on his Instagram account, writing, “lies, slander and ignore people’s dignity and family values”.

However, on Tuesday, he revealed that his time with the national team is over.

“Bad things happened last night. But am I regretful? No. Now I feel at ease,” goal.com quoted him as saying. “I talked with our coach and president of the federation and said that I want to leave national team. I said that I don’t want to play against Kosovo.”

Hitting back at the media, the 30-year-old insisted that he would always give the same response to those who put out such false news.

“I’ll always give the same response to those who put out such false news. I’ve never forgotten what it did to us,” he said.

“I speak as a man who serve the national team in all categories, loves his country and jersey. My national team career is over,” he added.

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Arda, who played for and won the La Liga with Atletico Madrid as well, has featured 97 times for Turkey’s senior team, having made his debut against Luxembourg in August 2016.