Arda Turan 'assaults Turkish journalist'

Barcelona attacker Arda Turan has reportedly assaulted a journalist while on international duty with Turkey.

It is understood that the incident occurred on the Turkish team's plane as they were returning from a friendly with Macedonia on Monday night, which ended in a goalless draw.

According to Hurriyet, Turan 'grabbed the journalist by the throat' before shouting: "Tell me, Bilal Mese, were you there? Were you with us when you wrote about the money issue? I ask you here, who told you to write those things?"

The altercation is said to have stemmed from a story in 2016 which suggested that the Barcelona midfielder had demanded more money to represent his country, which had caused a number of problems in the squad.

The same report claims that Turan had to be 'pulled away' from the journalist as tempers continued to rise.

The 30-year-old has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal this summer, but his agent recently claimed that the former Atletico Madrid midfielder would not be leaving Camp Nou before the start of the 2017-18 campaign.