Ex-Man Utd star Eric Bailly, 29, becomes unemployed six months after Red Devils release as Besiktas contract terminated
FORMER Manchester United star Eric Bailly has had his contract terminated by Turkish club Besiktas.
The centre-back joined the Turkish giants in the summer after being released by Manchester United.
The club confirmed on Twitter that they had released the player in a short statement.
The club tweeted: "The contract with Eric Bailly, the player of our first team, has been terminated by mutual agreement.
";We wish Eric Bailly success in his career. Regards. Besiktas JK"
Villarreal are reportedly close to signing the defender on a free, according to transfer guru .
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Bailly's release comes amid highly controversial circumstances.
He was one of five stars banished by the club owing to "poor performances" and “incompatibilities within the team”.
Bailly's agent said that the treatment had been unfair, given he was unable to contribute due to injury.
He made eight appearances for Besiktas before being sidelined by the club.
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His agent, Rafaela Pimenta, who also represents Erling Haaland, said when Bailly was first taken out of the squad: “We are shocked and it took us by surprise.
"We are preparing our reaction since we know Eric has done nothing wrong.
"The player's rights are being violated and we will make sure to protect him."
Bailly, along with Vincent Aboubakar, Rachid Ghezzal, Jean Onana and Valentin Rosier, had all been made to train away from the first-team squad until a transfer or contract termination could be arranged.
On the players' exile, new Besiktas president Hasan Arat told the AFP news agency: “Our No1 priority is to build a better team - we will fill the holes in our squad during the [winter] break.”
Bailly joined United from Villarreal in 2016 and played under former managers Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
He won the League Cup and Europa League during his first season at Old Trafford but a number of injury problems hindered his progress in recent years.
He was then shipped out on loan to Ligue 1 side Marseille last season after being deemed surplus to requirements by boss Erik ten Hag.
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He still had 12 months remaining on his £80,000-a-week deal when he was made available for transfer by United in the summer.
Bailly held talks to link up with former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr but that deal broke down before he headed to Turkey to try to resurrect his career as Besiktas announced his signing on a one-year contract.