Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers & Bristol Rovers all shared transfer regret - Lionel Messi comparisons fell flat | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic, Bolton Wanderers and Bristol Rovers will all feel duped after disappointing moves for former Walsall star Erhun Oztumer.

In the mid-to-late 2010’s, it appeared as though another true gem of attacking talent had been unearthed in the EFL, with Turkish attacking midfielder Erhun Oztumer lighting things up for Walsall.

Dubbed the ‘Turkish Messi’ owing to both his diminutive stature and magical displays, Oztumer was highly-rated and, naturally, highly sought-after, but subsequent moves to Bolton Wanderers, Charlton Athletic and Bristol Rovers left all three clubs feeling done over with his delivery of extremely underwhelming performances.

Having been born in Greenwich, Oztumer, who is of Turkish Cypriot descent, began his youth career with Charlton, and also played for Fisher Athletic, before joining Turkish side Manisaspor at the age of 16.

He began his professional career with Sivasspor but had to find regular football by playing for Anadolu Uskudar in the lower leagues of Turkish football.

Oztumer returned to England and joined Dulwich Hamlet, then of the Isthmian League, for a couple of seasons whereby he really caught the eye with 60 goals in 96 appearances from midfield.

Peterborough United, who have often been praised for smart scouting and recruitment, particularly from non-league, picked Oztumer up in 2014 but, despite real flashes of brilliance across two seasons at London Road, Posh allowed his departure on a free transfer, where he opted to sign for Walsall in the summer of 2016.

In the midlands is where Oztumer truly shone and delivered on that immense potential he had shown, but it is also where he peaked and left future clubs duped.

Erhun Oztumer was special at Walsall but struggled at Bolton Wanderers

During his time at Walsall, Erhun Oztumer established himself as one of the very best attacking midfielders in League One, earning himself a spot in the PFA’s League One Team of the Year in each of the two seasons he was there.

As Walsall finished 14th in the 2016/17 season, having managed just one victory in their final ten games of the campaign, Oztumer immediately made a name for himself.

Starting out-wide on debut, Oztumer notched against AFC Wimbledon in an opening day 3-1 victory at home, before quickly moving himself into the middle of the park and the so-called ‘number ten’ position.

Known for his close control and vision, Oztumer had immense technical quality for the level, underpinned by scoring stunners on a regular basis, one of the most famous being in a 4-1 defeat to future club Bolton in mid-February.

Oztumer’s form, and general involvement due to injury, coincided with Walsall’s dip, but his numbers remained very impressive for the campaign, with 15 goals and five assists in 41 third-tier appearances.

That was backed up the following season, perhaps receiving in higher praise by showing consistency, as he notched 15 goals once again and provided six goals for the Saddlers on their way to finishing 19th.

Oztumer was widely regarded as single handedly ensuring Walsall remained competitive in the third division, and it may not be a coincidence that they were relegated in the 2018/19 season, in what was the first post-Oztumer season at the Bescot Stadium.

That is because he had departed in 2018 for Bolton Wanderers, joining the Trotters on a free transfer, but it never really seemed to be a move that made a lot of sense.

Having gained League One promotion in the 2016/17 campaign, Bolton staved off relegation on the final day of the 2017/18 season under the management of Phil Parkinson.

Parkinson was and is known for a very functional style of play that is percentage-based in attack but extremely difficult to play and score against. It isn’t really a system that affords a player like Oztumer and is perhaps much more reliant on physicality in all positions.

As well as that, Oztumer was moving to a club that had a major crisis bubbling away underneath the surface that would soon impact his career and force his move away.

After a very underwhelming debut campaign, in which Bolton succumbed to a fairly humbling relegation with Oztumer managing just eight starts in the league, without providing a direct goal involvement for a team lacking quality or any attacking output, the former Peterborough man was one of many Bolton players to then go on strike on the penultimate day of the season, at home to Brentford, due to unpaid wages.

Oztumer was one of few who remained at the club under contract over the summer but he, among others such as Josh Magennis, opted to train but then refused to play after the opening day of the season against Wycombe Wanderers, leaving Bolton to field academy players for the opening month of the campaign amid administration being announced.

The circumstances presented Oztumer with the opportunity to depart from a move that had gone badly wrong both on and off the pitch, and he managed to escape back to the Championship and back down to the capital city, too, with a return to Charlton.

Erhun Oztumer failed to rediscover his spark at Charlton and Bristol Rovers

Having handed in his notice due to the ongoing financial issues at Bolton, Oztumer secured himself a return to Charlton, signing a two-year deal for the Addicks in the second-tier.

His first season, after a tough pre-season, was a difficult one, though, majorly disrupted by the start to his campaign and then by the COVID-19 pandemic cutting the season short in the early spring.

Oztumer failed to get a consistent run in the side and managed just 11 starts at The Valley as Charlton suffered relegation down to the third-tier.

Having been expected to become more of a key man for Charlton back down a level, Oztumer again failed to make much of an impact, despite a couple of early season starts.

If anything, just how ineffective he was in those matches made his departure even more likely and he soon joined fellow League One side Bristol Rovers on loan for the rest of the season.

With the Gas, Oztumer appeared deemed to be good enough to get straight into the eleven, or at least his reputation preceded him, but a continuation of struggling to rediscover any of the form he had at Walsall plagued him.

Oztumer eventually finished his stint at the Memorial Ground without a goal from ten starts as they finished rock-bottom in League Two; the third season in a row in which he had been relegated.

Oztumer departed Charlton at the end of his deal in 2021 and has, quite surprisingly, gone on to play in the Turkish top-flight for the likes of Fatih Karagumruk and Adana Demirspor before a return to the lower leagues at Magusa Turk Gucu.

The 34-year-old, in the right environment when things were going well and he was the absolute main man like with Dulwich and Walsall, was an extremely productive and even captivating footballer, hence the Messi comparisons, albeit they were always comically strong.

His physique, standing at 5 ft 3, and inability to adapt to tougher situations, like at Bolton and Charlton, also undermined him from becoming an EFL cult hero or stalwart.