Few footballers play for the same club twice. Even fewer return for a third spell. Cenk Tosun joined that rather exclusive club this summer, however, re-joining Besiktas after his contract at Premier League giants Everton finally wound down.
A return to his old stomping ground certainly made sense on paper. In his first stint, Tosun fired Besiktas to a pair of Turkish Super Lig titles; a tally of 64 goals in 142 games convincing Everton to splash out £27 million to secure his services in January 2018.
And while injury might have restricted Tosun to just four appearances upon returning on loan in 2020/21, he still notched three times.
But while they do say that the third time is often the charm, Tosun is certainly disproving such a theory in the Turkish capital this season.
Cenk Tosun’s Besiktas return not going to plan after Everton exit
Since putting pen to paper with Besiktas once again in July – just 24 hours after becoming a free-agent – the 45-time Turkey international is yet to open his account for a side sitting just three points off the top after seven games.
Tosun has played six times thus far too. Not one of those appearances has come from the start. In fact, he’s managed just 65 minutes of football; relegated to the role of impact sub. Fellow summer signings Wout Weghorst and Muleka are both firmly ahead of him in the pecking order too.
Weghorst and Muleka – the former having joined from Burnley and the latter joining after turning down Burnley – have netted seven times between them. If it ain’t broke, as they saying goes…
In fact, the closest Tosun has come to making headlines was in the aftermath of the 3-2 triumph over Ankaragucu; one, let’s say, over-zealous opposition supporter racing onto the pitch and nearly clobbering the former Crystal Palace loanee with a king-fu kick.
Nonetheless, Besiktas’ ex-West Brom boss Valerien Ismael insists that Tosun will still come good.
“No one should be surprised if Cenk starts scoring,” Ismael tells Spox of his currently goal-less centre-forward. “He has excellent offensive qualities.”
Super Lig defenders beware. Tosun has done it before in Turkey and, before long, he’ll surely start doing it again.
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