Patterning his game around Zinedine Zidane and Gheorghe Hagi, Arslan earned a move to Borussia Dortmund in 2003.

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.

[4] 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.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

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.