I wonder what kind of premium over market rates Turkish teams have to pay to get big international stars to go to a place that is currently--at best--pretty freaked up. Like half of the Dutch national team plays in Turkey now (including RvP, who just transferred from Man U to Fenerbahce).
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Turkish footballer Mehmet Topal survives gun attack
Turkish footballer Mehmet Topal has escaped unharmed after gunmen fired on his bulletproof car in Istanbul.
Topal, a 29-year-old Turkey midfielder with Fenerbahce, was driving home with a team-mate after training when the car was attacked.
The club condemned the incident as an "armed terrorist act".
The reason for the attack is unclear, but Fenerbahce's team bus was shot at earlier this year and the driver was wounded in the city of Trabzon.
The bus had been driving over a viaduct and a club official was forced to intervene to bring the vehicle to a halt.
The club said at the time that the attack represented the "peak point of hostility" towards it.
Turkey's top-flight Super League was suspended for a week and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, seen as a Fenerbahce supporter, called a meeting of the league's 18 club captains.
Immediately after Tuesday's attack, Topal pulled his car off the road in Istanbul's eastern Sancaktepe district and called for police help.
Topal's team-mate Uygar Mert Zeybek was also unhurt.
Pictures released by the club showed bullet damage on the passenger side of the widescreen, although the bullet did not appear to have pierced the glass.
The club had earlier published pictures on its website of recent signing Robin Van Persie taking part in training.
Fenerbahce were knocked out of the qualifying rounds of the Uefa Champions League by Shakhtar Donetsk last week.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33859919