Turkish football is not short on larger-than-life characters, but West Ham's new loan signing, Gokhan Tore, has an extraordinary story. He was orphaned as a child, survived a gun battle and almost tore the national team apart.
Tore, 24, suffered his first setback in life shortly after he was born in Koln, Germany, in 1992. He was given up for adoption, but his grandparents managed to win back custody when he was 2. His grandfather Sabri was responsible for introducing him to football and took him to training every week.
Sabri died when his grandson was 14, and his final wish was for him to represent the Turkish national team. A year later, Tore broke into Turkey's under-15s and rose through the ranks until his official debut on Aug. 10, 2011, under the stewardship of Guus Hiddink.
#WelcomeTore to our club and follow him @Gokhan_Tore7 �� pic.twitter.com/1Ltjmi8wPa
- West Ham United FC (@whufc_official) July 11, 2016
Tore had a troubled upbringing in a rough part of town but got his big break when former Chelsea sporting director Frank Arnesen spotted him in 2009. At age 16, he joined the Blues and rose through the youth ranks before following Arnesen on to his next job, at HSV Hamburg.
The winger was highly rated in the Chelsea academy and there is no doubting his talent, but he found it difficult to overcome his off-field troubles. Tore is no stranger to controversy and almost ripped the national team apart when a love story nearly ended in tragedy. Back in May 2013, following Turkey's loss against Netherlands in their final 2014 World Cup qualifier, teammates Omer Toprak and Hakan Calhanoglu along with a friend were at the national team hotel before their flight back to Germany the following morning.
What happened next is staggering. Tore had allegedly been stewing over Toprak's friend making advances toward his girlfriend and was determined to settle the score.
Accompanied by a sidekick whose identity remains unknown, Tore is alleged to have gained access to Toprak and Calhanoglu's hotel room after the pair had returned there.
"Then the real story began," Calhanoglu explained in an interview with the German TV channel ZDF.
"Gokhan's friend walked over to Omer, pulled out a gun from his jacket and told him he would be shot if he didn't lay flat on the floor.
"I was lying in a corner. He then came up to me and said: 'Don't move or I will shoot you'. I was curled up in the corner of the room, I couldn't move, I was scared for my life."
No charges were brought, and although Tore and Calhanoglu have put the incident behind them, his relationship with Toprak hasn't improved. Tore has been called up to the national team since but missed out on a place at Euro 2016 as coach Fatih Terim dropped him from his squad after he picked up a two-game suspension for a red card during qualification.
Tore became synonymous with trouble even when it was not necessarily his fault. In 2014 he was at a nightclub when a fight broke out. Shots were fired and a stray bullet hit him in the shoulder. Miraculously, he was not badly injured and returned to playing football just a few weeks later.
A club statement read: "Gokhan Tore hurt his shoulder due to a man with a gun who was arguing with his girlfriend at a night club.
"The bullet accidentally hit Gokhan Tore's shoulder and another five people were hurt in the attack. Our player has no connection with the attacker."
There was however, one manager who managed to bring out the best in him -- Slaven Bilic.
Then at Besiktas, Bilic succeeded where others had failed in finding a way to channel Tore's talent. Under Bilic's stewardship, Tore established himself as one of the most dangerous players on the field and really knuckled down following his arrival on loan in 2013.
Tore went on to find the back of the net four times and provide eight assists in 2013-14, his first season under Bilic, but he really shone over the course of the 2014-15 campaign. He scored a career high nine goals and provided 11 assists, establishing himself as one of the most sought after players in the Turkish league.
He developed his game over the next two years, becoming less selfish and working harder defensively. There are always concerns regarding physicality when players join the Premier League from aboard but Tore is a stocky, powerful, fast player and is well-suited for football in England. In fact, he received most of his football education as a youth in the Chelsea academy ranks before a move to Bundesliga outfit HSV in 2011 and then Russian side Rubin Kazan a year later before joining Besiktas.
Despite his bad-boy image, Tore has a pretty impressive disciplinary record having picked up just one red card for Besiktas since joining in 2013. It is mystifying at times to understand Tore's behaviour, but it perhaps even more difficult to grasp how tough his childhood must have been.
When he needed an operation on a torn meniscus in Germany back in 2014, the Turkish media were surprised to see his Besiktas teammates turn out to offer him support at the airport after his recovery. When reporters found out his teammates made the trip because he had no other family, it changed the way the public perceived Tore.
He has played under Bilic longer than any of the current Hammers' squad and one thing is for sure -- West Ham fans are in for a treat this season.