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Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu on life at the King Power, and repaying the faith of Brendan Rodgers
Henry Winter speaks to Leicester’s Turkish centre back Caglar Soyuncu about his side’s flying start, Harry Maguire’s departure and repaying the faith shown by Brendan Rodgers
Henry Winter, Chief Football Writer
So far this season, Caglar Soyuncu has done a Cruyff turn on Raúl Jiménez in his own box, dummied away with the ball from Callum Wilson yards from goal, sent Christian Pulisic sliding in the wrong direction and then scooped the ball over the American. He has outpaced Sadio Mané, turned so sharply that Tanguy Ndombélé lost his footing and scared Miguel Almirón into coughing up the ball. Soyuncu is a centre back with the fearlessness and flair of an attacker. “I used to play up front,” he says.
The Leicester City defender still belts the ball clear when required, as a few Liverpool fans discovered as they dived for cover in the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand at Anfield last month, and he can make mistakes, as Marcus Rashford exploited in winning a penalty for Manchester United. Soyuncu is unique, a risk-taker in a results business, and such a force of nature for Leicester that their supporters do not lament Harry Maguire’s departure. “I’d like to thank every single Leicester fan,” Soyuncu says. “Their support has been amazing. We feel their support in the stadium and also outside when they see us, we feel their love.”
The 23-year-old has brought even more invention to Brendan Rodgers’ bold side, who play away to Crystal Palace tomorrow. Expect more highlights, more risk-taking, more stepping out of defence. “I used to play in midfield as well as up front,” he says about his formative years in Turkey, “but then things changed and I became a defender.” He says it with no sense of regret, simply an acceptance that he will carry on playing the game to his own rhythm, a cavalier among roundheads.
He is fearless. “In the position I play I’m the last one at the back, so that requires that sort of ‘fearless’ attitude,” he says. Does he focus, as many believe, on entertaining fans? “For 90 minutes, I focus on the game. I’m not trying to entertain anyone, but if that [a Cruyff turn] is what needs to be done, I do that. If we win the game, the fans will be entertained, they will be happy anyway.” He just believes that élan can be worked into a winning match day game plan.
We meet in the dome at Leicester’s training ground with academy players excitedly walking past, steering their stride towards the club’s cult figure, and delighting as he stops. Eye contact, smile, handshake. One ventures “hello” in Turkish, “Merhaba”, which Soyuncu enjoys and they run off laughing. “Cags” spreads joy. He is known among the fans, including the club legend Gary Lineker, as “Lord Farquaad” from the Shrek series, because of his heroic hair and chiselled jaw. To opponents, he is a bit of a nightmare, a wall they run into, a one-man rolling maul.
He perches on the edge of a sofa, speaking enough English to understand the question but preferring to answer via an interpreter. We talk about that match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day of the season at the King Power Stadium, that Cruyff turn against Jiménez. What was he thinking of so close to goal? “Some people might think that’s a risky thing to do as a defender but sometimes a moment comes when you have to do a Cruyff turn,” he says. It is about decision-making, a faculty he admits he is “still working on”.
It is why he flicked his right foot out to nick the ball when Jiménez then went down the right. It is why he stood his ground when Diogo Jota ran at him, eventually falling over, succumbing to the Soyuncu force field.
Clean sheets matter. On returning to the dressing room after the stalemate, Jamie Vardy and all the players applauded Soyuncu. He turns briefly emotional when recalling their salute. “I feel very lucky to be here, playing for this club, alongside all these great players and great friends,” he says. “We all want each other to do well individually, which brings success for the team. Jamie Vardy is a very funny person, makes jokes all the time, which makes it really easy for a new player to get used to the surroundings and bond with the team.”
Vardy and the team understood how much that match meant to Soyuncu. They know his journey has not always been smooth. Hailing from Izmir, reputedly the city of Homer, Soyuncu’s odyssey began on the streets, expressing himself with a ball. “We had a lot of places to go and play, good pitches, we were lucky,” he says. “We are a very modest family, a normal family I would say, not poor, not rich. We still live that lifestyle to this day. Modest.
“Nobody else in the family played football. But my father has been a great help, always supported and inspired me. I left home at a very early age, but my parents always told me to try to do my best, and respect everyone.”
Those values were enhanced when he joined the local side, Altinordu, with their commitment to youth, with their motto of “Good Person, Good Citizen, Good Player”. Aged 20, and already a senior Turkey international, a rarity for a player at an Izmir club, Soyuncu moved to Freiburg in Germany, and within two years a host of clubs were being linked with him.
Leicester acted smartly, paying £19 million in August 2018, but Soyuncu experienced some frustrating times. He was out in the cold for three months, ignored by Claude Puel, and then Rodgers who had the Maguire-Jonny Evans axis working so well. But then came Huddersfield Town away, April 6 of this year, Soyuncu’s day of destiny. Evans was absent with a hip problem.
Maguire had been granted time off to look after his new baby, so Rodgers turned to Soyuncu to partner Wes Morgan. “My parents told me my time would come, so to be patient and ready for that occasion. And that time did come,” he says.
“When you’re not playing regularly, it’s difficult. It makes you unhappy. As a young player, it was my first season, and it wasn’t easy but my team-mates all helped me a lot. The manager was great also. He kept telling me that my time was going to come. He communicates really well with players who regularly play and also those waiting their time. He listens to you if you have a problem. I’m grateful to be playing for him. I believe Brendan Rodgers is a great all-round manager, tactically and also with his man-management. His staff, Kolo [Touré] and Chris [Davies] are great also.”
Then, as now, Touré has been a particular influence, working with Soyuncu in training. “Kolo had a massive career, played for his national team [Ivory Coast], a legend in his country, and he is well known in the UK [having played for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Celtic]. I feel very lucky he played my position so he helps me a lot.”
This is one of the reasons for his popularity, his willingness to work hard, and he constantly emphasises that “I’m still learning, I’m still improving”. Players and staff also like Soyuncu’s quirkiness, his tactile side, whether punching the physio playfully in the ribs, or putting team-mates in headlocks. Is it a means of communicating? “It’s nothing to do with my language skills,” he says. “I’ve always been that way. You have to have fun — it helps the team spirit.”
He has got to grips with English football, the pace and physicality. Leicester have set to music the moment their No 4 pressed Pulisic, nicked the ball, rolled it back with his left before flicking it over Pulisic to Hamza Choudhury in front of a shocked Matthew Harding Stand at Chelsea. “You make those decisions in a split-second,” he says. “It was the right decision because I managed to pass it to a team-mate.
“In modern football, you have to be strong but also fast, so I’m trying to improve my skills to be that modern defender. This is a very difficult league and we play against the best players in the world.”
He nods at the mention of the variety of challenges: one week it is the muscular Chris Wood of Burnley, then the flying Rashford of United. One game it can be first Olivier Giroud, then Tammy Abraham. Another game, it can be Divock Origi, Roberto Firmino, Mané and Mohamed Salah. “During training we analyse the team we’re going to play against, but I don’t look at individual players as ‘names’,” he says. “I just try to improve my skills, speed and power to be ready.” As to Rodgers’ comment that “he’s not frightened of anyone,” Soyuncu says: “It’s flattering, very nice to hear that from your manager.”
One of his best games came in the narrow loss to Rodgers’ old club, Liverpool. When Trent Alexander-Arnold sent a long pass down the inside-right channel to Salah, Soyuncu accelerated, reached the ball ahead of the Egyptian, took a couple of touches and cleared with his weaker left foot. “You have to be like that against a team that won the Champions League,” Soyuncu says. “They are fast, Salah and Mané, but you have to keep up with them.”
He may have started as a striker, dropped back into midfield, and now centre back, but Soyuncu is steeped in the history of great Turkish defenders, such as Bulent Korkmaz and Alpay Ozalan, part of that strong Turkish side of the mid-90s. “I speak to Alpay, he must have been a good player because he played here in the Premier League [with Aston Villa],” he says. He remembers that famous generation, including Rustu Recber, Tugay and Hakan Sukur, but adds: “My generation of Turkish players, we want to do as well, if not better than the previous generations.”
Soyuncu also ventures a quiet tribute to Leicester’s late, great owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who passed away a year ago. Vichai’s influence is still so strong, and the love for him eternal, that Soyuncu spoke about him in the present tense: “Vichai is such an important person for our team, not just for me, but for the others as well, for all the club.”
Soyuncu spent a few minutes inspecting the pictures on the wall of the home-grown likes of Lineker, Emile Heskey and Andy King. Lineker famously tweeted as to why Leicester were so right not to bother investing the Maguire money on a replacement centre back. “They knew how good Soyuncu is,” Lineker said.
“It’s great to hear things from these legends, like Gary Lineker,” Soyuncu says. “It makes me proud. But I am at the beginning of this journey.”
A journey with a few twists and Cruyff turns to come.
Henry Winter speaks to Leicester’s Turkish centre back Caglar Soyuncu about his side’s flying start, Harry Maguire’s departure and repaying the faith shown by Brendan Rodgers
Henry Winter, Chief Football Writer
So far this season, Caglar Soyuncu has done a Cruyff turn on Raúl Jiménez in his own box, dummied away with the ball from Callum Wilson yards from goal, sent Christian Pulisic sliding in the wrong direction and then scooped the ball over the American. He has outpaced Sadio Mané, turned so sharply that Tanguy Ndombélé lost his footing and scared Miguel Almirón into coughing up the ball. Soyuncu is a centre back with the fearlessness and flair of an attacker. “I used to play up front,” he says.
The Leicester City defender still belts the ball clear when required, as a few Liverpool fans discovered as they dived for cover in the Sir Kenny Dalglish stand at Anfield last month, and he can make mistakes, as Marcus Rashford exploited in winning a penalty for Manchester United. Soyuncu is unique, a risk-taker in a results business, and such a force of nature for Leicester that their supporters do not lament Harry Maguire’s departure. “I’d like to thank every single Leicester fan,” Soyuncu says. “Their support has been amazing. We feel their support in the stadium and also outside when they see us, we feel their love.”
The 23-year-old has brought even more invention to Brendan Rodgers’ bold side, who play away to Crystal Palace tomorrow. Expect more highlights, more risk-taking, more stepping out of defence. “I used to play in midfield as well as up front,” he says about his formative years in Turkey, “but then things changed and I became a defender.” He says it with no sense of regret, simply an acceptance that he will carry on playing the game to his own rhythm, a cavalier among roundheads.
He is fearless. “In the position I play I’m the last one at the back, so that requires that sort of ‘fearless’ attitude,” he says. Does he focus, as many believe, on entertaining fans? “For 90 minutes, I focus on the game. I’m not trying to entertain anyone, but if that [a Cruyff turn] is what needs to be done, I do that. If we win the game, the fans will be entertained, they will be happy anyway.” He just believes that élan can be worked into a winning match day game plan.
We meet in the dome at Leicester’s training ground with academy players excitedly walking past, steering their stride towards the club’s cult figure, and delighting as he stops. Eye contact, smile, handshake. One ventures “hello” in Turkish, “Merhaba”, which Soyuncu enjoys and they run off laughing. “Cags” spreads joy. He is known among the fans, including the club legend Gary Lineker, as “Lord Farquaad” from the Shrek series, because of his heroic hair and chiselled jaw. To opponents, he is a bit of a nightmare, a wall they run into, a one-man rolling maul.
He perches on the edge of a sofa, speaking enough English to understand the question but preferring to answer via an interpreter. We talk about that match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the opening day of the season at the King Power Stadium, that Cruyff turn against Jiménez. What was he thinking of so close to goal? “Some people might think that’s a risky thing to do as a defender but sometimes a moment comes when you have to do a Cruyff turn,” he says. It is about decision-making, a faculty he admits he is “still working on”.
It is why he flicked his right foot out to nick the ball when Jiménez then went down the right. It is why he stood his ground when Diogo Jota ran at him, eventually falling over, succumbing to the Soyuncu force field.
Clean sheets matter. On returning to the dressing room after the stalemate, Jamie Vardy and all the players applauded Soyuncu. He turns briefly emotional when recalling their salute. “I feel very lucky to be here, playing for this club, alongside all these great players and great friends,” he says. “We all want each other to do well individually, which brings success for the team. Jamie Vardy is a very funny person, makes jokes all the time, which makes it really easy for a new player to get used to the surroundings and bond with the team.”
Vardy and the team understood how much that match meant to Soyuncu. They know his journey has not always been smooth. Hailing from Izmir, reputedly the city of Homer, Soyuncu’s odyssey began on the streets, expressing himself with a ball. “We had a lot of places to go and play, good pitches, we were lucky,” he says. “We are a very modest family, a normal family I would say, not poor, not rich. We still live that lifestyle to this day. Modest.
“Nobody else in the family played football. But my father has been a great help, always supported and inspired me. I left home at a very early age, but my parents always told me to try to do my best, and respect everyone.”
Those values were enhanced when he joined the local side, Altinordu, with their commitment to youth, with their motto of “Good Person, Good Citizen, Good Player”. Aged 20, and already a senior Turkey international, a rarity for a player at an Izmir club, Soyuncu moved to Freiburg in Germany, and within two years a host of clubs were being linked with him.
Leicester acted smartly, paying £19 million in August 2018, but Soyuncu experienced some frustrating times. He was out in the cold for three months, ignored by Claude Puel, and then Rodgers who had the Maguire-Jonny Evans axis working so well. But then came Huddersfield Town away, April 6 of this year, Soyuncu’s day of destiny. Evans was absent with a hip problem.
Maguire had been granted time off to look after his new baby, so Rodgers turned to Soyuncu to partner Wes Morgan. “My parents told me my time would come, so to be patient and ready for that occasion. And that time did come,” he says.
“When you’re not playing regularly, it’s difficult. It makes you unhappy. As a young player, it was my first season, and it wasn’t easy but my team-mates all helped me a lot. The manager was great also. He kept telling me that my time was going to come. He communicates really well with players who regularly play and also those waiting their time. He listens to you if you have a problem. I’m grateful to be playing for him. I believe Brendan Rodgers is a great all-round manager, tactically and also with his man-management. His staff, Kolo [Touré] and Chris [Davies] are great also.”
Then, as now, Touré has been a particular influence, working with Soyuncu in training. “Kolo had a massive career, played for his national team [Ivory Coast], a legend in his country, and he is well known in the UK [having played for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Celtic]. I feel very lucky he played my position so he helps me a lot.”
This is one of the reasons for his popularity, his willingness to work hard, and he constantly emphasises that “I’m still learning, I’m still improving”. Players and staff also like Soyuncu’s quirkiness, his tactile side, whether punching the physio playfully in the ribs, or putting team-mates in headlocks. Is it a means of communicating? “It’s nothing to do with my language skills,” he says. “I’ve always been that way. You have to have fun — it helps the team spirit.”
He has got to grips with English football, the pace and physicality. Leicester have set to music the moment their No 4 pressed Pulisic, nicked the ball, rolled it back with his left before flicking it over Pulisic to Hamza Choudhury in front of a shocked Matthew Harding Stand at Chelsea. “You make those decisions in a split-second,” he says. “It was the right decision because I managed to pass it to a team-mate.
“In modern football, you have to be strong but also fast, so I’m trying to improve my skills to be that modern defender. This is a very difficult league and we play against the best players in the world.”
He nods at the mention of the variety of challenges: one week it is the muscular Chris Wood of Burnley, then the flying Rashford of United. One game it can be first Olivier Giroud, then Tammy Abraham. Another game, it can be Divock Origi, Roberto Firmino, Mané and Mohamed Salah. “During training we analyse the team we’re going to play against, but I don’t look at individual players as ‘names’,” he says. “I just try to improve my skills, speed and power to be ready.” As to Rodgers’ comment that “he’s not frightened of anyone,” Soyuncu says: “It’s flattering, very nice to hear that from your manager.”
One of his best games came in the narrow loss to Rodgers’ old club, Liverpool. When Trent Alexander-Arnold sent a long pass down the inside-right channel to Salah, Soyuncu accelerated, reached the ball ahead of the Egyptian, took a couple of touches and cleared with his weaker left foot. “You have to be like that against a team that won the Champions League,” Soyuncu says. “They are fast, Salah and Mané, but you have to keep up with them.”
He may have started as a striker, dropped back into midfield, and now centre back, but Soyuncu is steeped in the history of great Turkish defenders, such as Bulent Korkmaz and Alpay Ozalan, part of that strong Turkish side of the mid-90s. “I speak to Alpay, he must have been a good player because he played here in the Premier League [with Aston Villa],” he says. He remembers that famous generation, including Rustu Recber, Tugay and Hakan Sukur, but adds: “My generation of Turkish players, we want to do as well, if not better than the previous generations.”
Soyuncu also ventures a quiet tribute to Leicester’s late, great owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who passed away a year ago. Vichai’s influence is still so strong, and the love for him eternal, that Soyuncu spoke about him in the present tense: “Vichai is such an important person for our team, not just for me, but for the others as well, for all the club.”
Soyuncu spent a few minutes inspecting the pictures on the wall of the home-grown likes of Lineker, Emile Heskey and Andy King. Lineker famously tweeted as to why Leicester were so right not to bother investing the Maguire money on a replacement centre back. “They knew how good Soyuncu is,” Lineker said.
“It’s great to hear things from these legends, like Gary Lineker,” Soyuncu says. “It makes me proud. But I am at the beginning of this journey.”
A journey with a few twists and Cruyff turns to come.
