Soyuncu Arrives On Loan at Fenerbahce
The defender will play the remainder of the season on loan at the Turkish club after not having much prominence in the ranks of Atlético Madrid.
Six months after his free transfer to Atlético Madrid from Leicester, Turkish international defender Caglar Soyuncu leaves the red and white club, loaned until the end of the season to Fenerbahce in his home country, after playing just nine games, starting only two, and clocking 214 minutes under Diego Simeone's command.
"I am happy and excited to be here. I want to join the team as soon as possible and I want to give my best and help the team. My goals and the club's are to win titles. We have a good team. I am eagerly looking forward to joining them. It will also be my first experience in the Super League. I'm excited about that too," Soyuncu expressed to Fenerbahce's official media after signing his loan until June 30.
The 27-year-old player, with a contract with the red and white entity until 2017, is the third player with the least minutes this season in the Madrid squad, only ahead of Reinildo Mandava, who returned in November from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, and Thomas Lemar, sidelined since September 16. The Mozambican has played 107 minutes this season, while the Frenchman has remained at 116.
Turkish international on 55 occasions, after his time at Altinordu (38 matches between 2014-15 and 2015-16), Freiburg (55 duels between 2016-17 and 2017-18), and Leicester (132 matches from 2018-19 to 2022-23), he has not managed to establish himself at Atlético, despite his impressive performance in the summer friendly against Manchester City.
Since the start of the competition, his performance and minutes have dropped. He has only played nine games out of the 22 available so far at Atlético, starting in just two (in the 2-0 defeat against Athletic Club and the 1-3 victory in the Copa del Rey against Lugo), being substituted by Diego Simeone at halftime.
Since his return from a muscle injury, which kept him out of competition from mid-September until October 21, in the 0-3 victory in Vigo, he has played seven of the team's 18 games. In the 1-0 against Sevilla on December 23, he was sent off with a straight red card four minutes after entering the field, from the 66th to the 70th minute.
Now he joins Fenerbahce, the leader of the Turkish League, with 60 points, three more with one game more than Galatasaray. Between them lies the title of that competition, as they also lead by 23 points ahead of the third-placed Trabzonspor, with 23 rounds already played in the championship. They are also advancing in the Turkish Cup and the Conference League.
