Early career Arslan was born and raised in Germany, in
Paderborn, to
Turkish parents from
Çorum; his father Erhan Arslan, a real estate agent, moved to Germany when he was 11 years old. He began playing football at the age of six, when his father brought him along to watch Grün-Weiß Paderborn play. Arslan began his career with the local club. Patterning his game around
Zinedine Zidane and
Gheorghe Hagi, Arslan earned a move to
Borussia Dortmund in 2003. After several years in Dortmund's youth team, Arslan moved to
Hamburger SV.
Hamburger SV in 2009 Arslan moved to Hamburger SV on a free transfer in 2009. He made his debut on 23 September 2009, coming in the 70th minute as a substitute for
Marcus Berg in the second round of the
DFB-Pokal against
Osnabrück. Hamburg managed a 3–3 draw, but went on to lose 5–7 following a penalty shootout. Arslan made his league debut on 17 October 2009 in a 0–0 draw against
Bayer Leverkusen. He moved on loan to
Alemannia Aachen for the 2010–11 season and scored his first goal for the club in the fifth week of the
2. Bundesliga in a 3–1 win against
FSV Frankfurt.
Beşiktaş On 27 January 2015, Arslan signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with
Süper Lig club
Beşiktaş. He came on as a substitute for
José Sosa on 26 February in the 60th minute of a
UEFA Europa League last 32 second leg against
Liverpool, and 15 minutes later scored the only goal of the game, taking it to a
penalty shootout in which he scored Beşiktaş' last attempt before
Dejan Lovren missed to eliminate Liverpool.
Fenerbahçe and Udinese In January 2019 he moved to
Fenerbahçe where he will play until June 2020 and then change league by going to Italy for three seasons for
Udinese.
Melbourne City On 15 June 2023, his move to Australia was announced, signing a two-year contract with
Melbourne City. He made his debut in the
Australia Cup against
Oakleigh Cannons, in which he scored two penalties in a 3–2 win. His goalscoring run would continue for the next two rounds of the
2023 Australia Cup, with a deflection goal credited to Arslan coming from a shot from
Steven Ugarkovic against
Wellington Phoenix and a penalty rebound against the
North Eastern MetroStars. his departure from the club was then announced on 9 July 2024.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima On 21 July 2024 it was announced that Tolgay had signed for
J1 League side
Sanfrecce Hiroshima. On 11 August 2024, he scored his first goal for the club against
Cerezo Osaka also achieving a brace. On 31 August 2024, he scored a hat-trick in a 3–2 victory over
FC Tokyo. ==International career==