Leicester defender Caglar Soyuncu has reportedly agreed to a four-year deal with La Liga side Atletico Madrid, according to a source close to the player. Soyuncu, 27, is out of contract this summer and will be the second player to leave Leicester on a free after Youri Tielemans. This comes after Leicester finished 18th in the Premier League this season and were relegated to the Championship. Atletico boss Diego Simeone appeared to confirm the signing in an interview with Spanish radio on Thursday, saying that Soyuncu was already signed and would help the team.
Soyuncu joined Leicester from German side Freiburg for £19m in 2018 and has played 132 games for the club, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2021. He was frozen out by former manager Brendan Rodgers for much of this season, playing only two league games, but interim boss Dean Smith restored him to the side immediately after taking over. Although he featured five times since April, he missed the last three games of the campaign due to a hamstring injury.
According to the source, an agreement in principle was made in January and Soyuncu decided he did not want to prolong his contract with Leicester. Atletico had been interested in signing him a year ago but Leicester did not want to let him leave and so they waited on him. Soyuncu featured in both of Turkey’s European Championship qualifying fixtures in March and is expected to link up with the national team for their games against Latvia and Wales later this month, after which his signing is officially expected to be confirmed.
Leicester are not likely to make Brazilian winger Tete’s deal permanent, while Jonny Evans, Nampalys Mendy, Daniel Amartey and Ryan Bertrand are all out of contract this summer.