Leicester learn their fate with senior star ‘expected’ to sign for Spanish giants amid heavy competition
Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu is ‘expected’ to sign a pre-contract agreement to join Atletico Madrid at the end of the season, according to reports.
The 26-year-old’s current deal with the Foxes is set to expire at the end of the season, so will head to the Spanish club on a free transfer.
This comes after Soyuncu has fallen down the pecking order at the King Power stadium this term, playing just five games overall.
The Turkey international joined Leicester from Freiburg on a five-year deal for £20m in August 2018.
Despite struggling for minutes under Brendan Rodgers, Soyuncu has, however, started both of Dean Smith’s two games in charge so far.
Most recently, Soyuncu played the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 victory over Wolves on Saturday, which could prove to be a monumental three points for Leicester in the relegation battle.
However, according to the Athletic, Soyuncu is now ‘set’ to join Atletico Madrid this summer, with Diego Simeone allegedly a big fan of the defender.
Inter Milan were also said to be interested in the centre-back, but now it seems Los Rojiblancos have won the race.
Soyuncu could be a big loss for Leicester
In an interview before the Wolves clash, Smith, who was appointed as the new Leicester boss after Rodgers was sacked, said Soyuncu has ‘trained well’ since his arrival.
“(It’s a) Clean slate for people as we’ve come in, Cags [Soyuncu] has trained really well and what we saw in training with thought yep, we want him in the team,” Smith said.
“We want him with us and we’ve decided to go with the system we wanted today that we feel we can get a result with.”
However, even if Soyuncu plays a key role in Leicester’s relegation battle, his departure has been on the cards for several months now.
Indeed, as previously reported by TEAMtalk, Inter Milan were also pushing hard to sign the Turkish defender, but Atletico were always the firm favourites to sign him.
Since signing for the Foxes in 2018, Soyuncu has made 127 appearances across all competitions, scoring three goals in the process.
Last season, in 28 Premier League matches, Soyuncu averaged a solid 1.7 tackles, 1.2 interceptions and 3.2 clearances per outing, helping his side to five clean sheets.
Of course, the centre-back was also a key part of the 2020/21 Leicester side which finished fifth in the league table and won the FA Cup, playing 32 matches in that campaign.
With that in mind, Atletico have secured a major bargain in signing Soyuncu on a free transfer and it will be interesting to see how he fares in LaLiga next term.
