Will Arda Turan Make Any Impact at Barcelona?

Arda Turan still has at least four months to spend twiddling his thumbs before he will get a chance of first-team action at Barcelona.

A lack of strength in depth was obvious by the makeup of Barca's bench for the league match against Athletic Club de Bilbao, a situation only exacerbated by injuries to Dani Alves and Sergio Busquets.

You might therefore imagine that both player and club can't wait for January 2016 to come around.

Barca will, at that point, also be able to bring in further reinforcements, but both Aleix Vidal and Turan need to be at their optimum fitness level from the very first game where they are available to ensure appropriate competition for places.

Vidal's route into the side is fairly clear-cut, it would seem. Signed when Alves was non-committal to Barca's contract offer, the assumption was that the ex-Sevilla man would become the new first-choice right wing-back.

Alves' eventual renewal means that Vidal needs to work extra hard to usurp the Brazilian.

Turan has both Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic ahead of him in the midfield berths that you might suspect would interest the Turkish international.

David Ramos/Getty Images

So the simple answer to the question is he has to make an impact if he wants any sort of future at Barcelona.

After paying €34 million with €7 million in variables, per Francesc Tomas of ESPN, it's arguable that Barcelona themselves will be seeking an immediate impact from the player.

It's unlikely that the same will come in the way of goals scored however.

Although Turan has come up with some crucial strikes in the recent past—think of the Champions League tie at Chelsea by way of example—he is hardly prolific.

Indeed, WhoScored.com note his output in this regard at just 18 goals in the last five years.

Where the ex-Galatasaray captain does excel is in his distribution of the ball and his intelligence. His 85.2 percent, per WhoScored, was the best pass completion success of any of the Atletico Madrid players.

Although he will find it far from easy to break into the side mid-season, especially if they are playing well, Turan's versatility affords Luis Enrique possibilities to have him stationed anywhere across the middle of the park.

That sort of luxury will be invaluable to the manager especially as we get to the business end of the season.

Furthermore, you can't exactly accuse the Turk of not giving his all in a match. One of the most competitive of midfield players, Turan's work-rate is astonishing and he will add some much-needed bite to the Barca midfield.

Sergio Busquets might also appreciate having a colleague that doesn't mind putting his foot in when the need arises. 

Ex-boss Diego Simeone noted back in February, via Sky Sports:

"

Arda is a player that gives us rhythm and has the timing in order to combine the midfield with the defence, the wings and the attack.

When he is playing well he causes a lot of problems, he is a fundamental player for us.

"

It is a perfectly apt description of a player who often appears to get much less credit than he deserves.

Technically competent, the more one thinks about the transfer, the more it makes sense for the Catalans.

Perhaps a player in Enrique's own image, Turan will give the Barca midfield an edge that they have previously lacked but which we have occasionally seen from Ivan Rakitic.

The purchase of both the Croatian and Turan hint at a possible changing of the guard in how the manager wants his Barca variant to play their football.

As we've already seen sans Turan, it can be hugely successful when done right and there's nothing to suggest that he won't hit all of the right notes come January.