Former Manchester United defender Eric Bailly is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons in Turkey on Monday after Besiktas’ latest defeat at the weekend. Bailly was hauled off at half-time in Sunday’s 3-2 loss at Antalyaspor after an on-field row with a team-mate seemingly escalated in the dressing room.
United struggled to offload Bailly in the summer transfer window, ultimately agreeing to his free departure so he could join Besiktas on a one-year contract.
The 29-year-old was Jose Mourinho’s first signing at Old Trafford in 2016 but made just 116 appearances across seven years due to frustrating injury woes.
Bailly would have hoped a switch to Istanbul could reignite his career following an underwhelming loan spell at Marseille last season.
But the manager who signed him, Senol Gones, resigned last month after Bailly’s own goal proved decisive in a 3-2 defeat to Lugano in the Europa Conference League.
Burak Yilmaz has taken interim charge but hasn’t managed to improve Besiktas’ woeful season so far, sitting fifth in the Turkish Super Lig, 12 points off leaders Galatasaray.
Besiktas are also rock bottom of Group D in the Europa Conference League, winning none of their three games so far.
Click here to join our Man Utd WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive Red Devils news.
And Bailly was at the centre of their continued dismay on Sunday when Antalyaspor ran out 3-2 winners at the Antalya Stadium.
Besiktas actually led at the break through Cenk Tosun’s stoppage-time strike, but tempers flared on the pitch as Bailly was captured in a heated exchange with team-mate Tayfur Bingol.
Yilmaz’s side collapsed in the second half, conceding three times in the opening 12 minutes while Bailly watched from the bench after being substituted due to an ‘inappropriate’ incident.
Yilmaz told t24: “There was a problem with Eric Bailly during the half-time. That’s why I took him off. There is no injury situation. I took him out of the game due to an inappropriate move.”
