After giving Leicester City pair Wesley Fofana and Jonny Evans glowing appraisals, Damon Carter’s brow starts to furrow as he looks towards the players who deputized whilst they were both injured – please look away now!
Caglar Soyuncu of Leicester City
Appearances 40 / Premier League – 28 / FA Cup – 1 / League Cup – 3 / Europe – 8
Goals – 1 – Premier League
Moment to savour – A purple patch of form in March that saw him show his best form
Moment to forget – A horror show of a performance at West Ham United setting the tone for the season.
With the dust settling on a disappointing season in 2020/2021, Caglar Soyuncu joined the Turkish squad for what turned out to be a disastrous Euro 2020 campaign. With an early exit you would hope that Soyuncu would return with a desire to get back to form. But any desire he may have had has not manifested itself.
After he got away with a clean sheet against a dominant Wolverhampton Wanderers, he was subsequently embarrassed at the London Stadium by a resurgent West Ham and Michail Antonio. He wasn’t touch tight when he needed to be and when he was he was easily rolled for a goal. Add this to a disastrous pass back that led to an easy West Ham goal.
Without wanting to labour the point, City’s defending on set pieces in 21/22 has been an absolute embarrassment. Soyuncu has more than contributed to a complete lack of focus and intelligence when doing the basics of defending. He’s also been one of the main offenders for playing safe passes and not moving the ball quick enough.
But are there any positives to be had from this season for ‘Cags’? Surprisingly yes, he was the East Midlanders’s highest performing Premier League blocker (27) the best at last man tackles (2) as well as managing the most headed clearances (61) and winning the most aerial battles (92). But these stats do little to help Soyuncu not be seen as a potential liability at the back. Despite his dwindling reputation these numbers could explain why he continues to be linked with some of Europe’s elite. A fresh start may suit all parties.
Rating 5/10 – chances of leaving 90%
Jannick Vestergaard
Appearances 20 / Premier League – 10 / FA Cup – 1 / League Cup – 3 / Europe – 6
Moment to savour – An impressive performance in the tight home game against champions Manchester City
Moment to forget – A substitution on at home to West Ham to be out-jumped by Craig Dawson’s elbow and concede an equaliser
Possibly one of Leicester City’s strangest signings. With panic setting in and centre back injuries rising, they delved into the market and plucked out the tall Danish Southampton centre-back for a cool £15 million.
Where he fits into Leicester’s plans is a bit of a mystery. He struggles for pace, isn’t best suited to playing in a back four and most bizarrely isn’t particularly strong in the air. Thrust into the team almost immediately he showcased a bewildering lack of cohesion with the team which shows in not winning any of the Premier League games he played a full 90 minutes for.
Promise was shown at home to Manchester City with a series of committed challenges and blocks to keep the ‘Citizens’ at bay. But this was a false dawn and showed in the 6-3 reverse at the Etihad. He played very few times after Christmas and even less when Evans and Fofana returned. Its difficult to understand why Leicester just didn’t try and promote from the youth squad or wait until a more suitable back up central defender was available
Rating 5/10 – chances of leaving 75%
Daniel Amartey
Appearances 39 / Premier League – 28 / FA Cup – 1 / League Cup – 1 / Europe – 9
Moment to savour – An outstanding display in a memorable victory at home to Liverpool
Moment to forget – A death trap pass back at the City ground that allowed Nottingham Forest to take a 2-0 lead
One of the few fringe centre backs to come out of this season with much credit is Daniel Amartey. After being utilised as a right back and defensive midfielder in past seasons, it was good to see him finally be given a chance in his specialist position for Ghana. Given a chance is a fairly loose term though, he was more just thrown into the situation and forced to play next to Caglar Soyuncu for several games.
The lacking partnership may explain the Ghanaian erratic positional sense is one that seems to be improving and he covers a decent amount of ground without being too sluggish. He can even be a little bit dangerous when attacking corners, which he showed when heading in an equaliser at home to Spartak Moscow.
But like all City defenders, he too struggles on crosses and could well be accused of not being aggressive enough when rising for challenges. Or perhaps there is something far deeper going on at Leicester’s plush training ground surroundings given every centre back seems to suffer from the same problem.