Bailly, Aboubakar among five players discarded by Besiktas

Former Manchester United defender Eric Bailly and Cameroon captain Vincent Aboubakar were among five players to be excluded from the first-team squad at Besiktas, the Turkish club said on Monday.

Rachid Ghezzal, Jean Onana and Valentin Rosier have also been dropped by Besiktas for "poor performances and incompatibilities with the team", according to a club statement.

Bailly only joined Besiktas in September after ending a seven-year stint at United, who loaned the Ivorian to Marseille last season.

Aboubakar returned for a third spell at the club in January following 18 months with Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr. He also spent the 2016-17 season on loan at Besiktas from Porto before making a permanent move in 2020.

New Besiktas president Hasan Arat, a former basketball player and businessman, told AFP he was ready to move on certain players in the January transfer window if the opportunity presented itself.

"Our No 1 priority is to build a better team. We will fill the holes in our squad during the (winter) break," said Arat, who took over as club president last week.

Besiktas are fifth in the Turkish top flight after 15 matches and trail the top two, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray, by 14 points.

They have also been eliminated from the Europa Conference League after four defeats in five group games.