The Black Eagles made seven new transfers before the start of the season but all have failed to impress thus far.
Turkish football giants Besiktas will need to go back to the drawing board when the season resumes in January 2020 as their star-studded squad of internationals has failed to impress so far this season.
The Istanbul club find themselves in fourth place with 30 points after 17 games but they could see themselves drop down to fifth if their rivals win their final games of the first half of the season.
Muhammad Elneny, Victor Ruiz, Tyler Boyd, Abdoulay Diaby, Douglas Santos, Georges Kevin N’Koudou and Pedro Rebocho have all failed to deliver since joining Besiktas in the summer.
Elneny transferred from Arsenal on loan and made his debut in week four against newcomers Gaziantep FK. However, his dismissal during his Turkish football debut led him to miss Besikas’ next three games. The Egyptian midfielder is now on the brink of yet another suspension having accumulated three yellow cards since.
Mali international Diaby has seen the most game time out of the rest of the club’s new transfers but he has failed to score a goal for the past six weeks since making his debut in week four alongside his new teammates.
Besiktas coach Abdullah Avci has shifted the player into various positions in order to try to get the most out of Diaby but the forward has, ultimately, remained unimpressive.
N’Koudou, on the other hand, has missed five games due to injury. The former Tottenham player has managed to score just one goal and provide one assist.
New arrivals Douglas Santos and Victor Ruiz have also been sidelined regularly with injuries in the first half of the season. Ruiz was out of action for seven games and is facing a suspension due to picking up three yellow cards. Douglas Santos has missed the club’s last eight games due to injury and is expected to be sidelined for another month.
New Zealand-born American international Tyler Boyd was expected to bring a new dimension to Besiktas’ attack after impressing with Anakragucu last season, however, the winger has been on the substitutes bench for the majority of his time with the club since his transfer.
He played in the club’s first four games of the season but has been overlooked ever since by Avci. The winger has made just 3 appearances in Besiktas’ last 13 games.
Meanwhile, Portugues left-back Rebocho made a single appearance in the team’s first 8 games of the season. Since then, he has gone on to play a total of 8 times for Besiktas but his performances have been lackluster which has lead to 24-year-old finding himself on the bench more often than not.
The team are now officially on break until Friday, January 3. After regrouping in Istanbul, they will travel to Antalya where they will carry out their winter break training camp.
The Black Eagles are scheduled to play two friendlies next month; against Hungary’s Mezokovesd-Zsory on January 8 and on January 10 against 1.Lig side Altinordu FK, after which they will return to Istanbul.
