“He enjoys inflicting pain on people” – Chilwell explains Leicester teammate Soyuncu’s nature
Leicester City centre-back Caglar Soyuncu is “really aggressive” according to teammate Ben Chilwell.
The Turkey international has some big shoes to fill but has already made an impression on the training ground.
Who is Caglar Soyuncu? Five key things to know…
- The Izmir born defender started his career at Altinordu.
- He moved to German side Freiburg in 2016.
- He would make 50 Bundesliga appearances for the club.
- He joined Leicester last summer on a five-year-deal.
- His teammates have cautiously commented on his “aggressive” style of play in training.
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Soyuncu is seen as the perfect replacement for Manchester United newcomer Harry Maguire as the Foxes start life without their defensive talisman.
He joined the club last summer but only made six appearances in the Premier League with competition for places keeping him out of the first-team.
But, the 23-year-old has already made an impression in training this season with his aggressive nature being noted with caution by his teammates.
“He’s really aggressive,” Chilwell told Sky Sports. “You might walk into the physio room and you’ll be getting headlocked by someone and it’ll be him.
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“Or when he goes to shake your hand in the morning, you’ll hear your knuckles clicking. And then he doesn’t let go because he enjoys inflicting pain on people. He genuinely does.
“Even today we were in the ice bath, me and Kingy (Andy King) got out, jumped in the shower and he was in the ice bath, flicking the water at us, laughing to himself.
“You have to tell him: ‘Cags, stop!’”
The Turkey international, who has played 24 times for his country, helped Leicester keep a clean-sheet in the 0-0 draw against Wolves and also played in the 1-1 draw at the weekend to Chelsea, maintaining the club’s unbeaten start to the campaign.
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Can Soyuncu really replace Maguire?
There are some big shoes to fill for the Turkish defender at the King Power Stadium but he has certainly made a positive start to the new season.
With only one goal conceded against Wolves and Chelsea, Leicester can take a lot of positives from their start to 2019/20.
Soyuncu has an aggressive nature as described by his teammates which will help him replace the physicality lost when Maguire moved to Old Trafford this summer, but he is also capable of playing out from the back, which is imperative to Brendan Rodgers’ style of play.
Speaking about the centre-back, Rodgers said: “He made a great first appearance. In my time while I’ve been here, I’ve recognised that he’s a very good player.
“He’s had that first year where he’s had to adapt, where there were a lot of good players playing in front of him – Jonny (Evans) and Harry (Maguire) and Wes (Morgan).
“But you could see in his training and how focused he was that if the opportunity came then he could take it and I felt he was outstanding last weekend – he and Jonny were.
“Firstly, he can defend and he’s aggressive. He wants to attack the ball. But he’s a modern-day centre-half where he’s comfortable on the ball and can read the game.
“I thought he did very well but he needs to be consistent and show what a really good young player he is.”
