Arda Turan's agent to 'speed up' Barcelona exit amid Galatasaray and Manchester United links

Arda Turan's agent, Ahmet Bulut, is reportedly ready to travel to Barcelona to speed up the Turkey international's exit from the Nou Camp. AS claims that Galatasaray are currently in pole position to secure his services but the Spanish publication suggests that Manchester United could also join the race as Jose Mourinho is a long-term admirer of the former Atletico Madrid star.

Turan, 30, swapped the Vicente Calderon for the Nou Camp in the summer of 2015 after impressing at Diego Simeone's side. Chelsea, United themselves and Arsenal were then heavily linked with his services but Barcelona saw off competition from the Premier League clubs after agreeing to pay €34m (£30.8m, $40m) plus add-ons for his services.

The talented playmaker was unable to play during the first part of the 2015-2016 season because of a Fifa registration ban imposed on the club and has struggled to adapt to the Catalan's passing game.

Turan scored 13 goals for Barcelona last season following a promising start to the campaign, but fell out of favour under Luis Enrique and failed to register a single minute of playing time since a 7-1 win over Osasuna on 26 May.

Barcelona put him on the market earlier in the summer with hopes of recouping a big part of the €34m invested in his signing just two years ago. In March, The Times reported Arsene Wenger was planning a £25m swoop to lure him to Arsenal ahead of the new season while a number of Chinese clubs were also said to be interested in his signature.

But Turan remains at Barcelona with just over two weeks of the transfer window remaining, despite Ernesto Valverde having made it clear that he doesn't feature in his plans ahead of the new season.

Galatasaray president Dursun Ozbek said that his club were ready to take advantage of the situation to lure him back to his homeland this summer.

"Arda supports Galatasaray, he is very fond of the club, Arda is going to serve this club again," Ozbek said during a press conference, as quoted by AS. "The only option for him to play in Turkey is here, we want Arda to retire at Galatasaray. We are working to sort it out, the conditions of the transfer."

However, his agent Ahmet Bulut later pointed out that Turan still has three more years left on his contract at Barcelona, and that the club have told him that Valverde wants him out.

"The [Galatasaray] president has already said what he thinks about Arda. Arda is a Barcelona player and he has three years left in his contract," Bulut said as quoted by AS. "Barcelona have not called me to discuss Arda's situation. Nobody says he's going to leave the club and he has not offered himself to anybody."

But AS now claims that Turan's agent has finally decided to accelerate his exit after the midfielder was left out of the Barcelona squad for the recent 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup first-leg.

The Spanish publication says that Bulut will travel to Barcelona in the coming hours to discuss his transfer to Galatasaray.

However, AS says that Manchester United could also consider joining the race due to Mourinho's long-term admiration for the former Atletico Madrid star. Furthermore, they point out that the Portuguese tactician knows Turan personally as Ahmet Bulut works closely with Mourinho's agent Jorge Mendes.

United have already made three signings during the summer transfer window in the form of Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof. However, Mourinho is still looking to bolster his attack with a winger, having been knocked back in his attempts to sign Ivan Perisic from Inter Milan.