Caglar Soyuncu: Leicester defender earns incredible praise from Gary Lineker, Jamie Carragher and talkSPORT’s Stuart Pearce
After selling Harry Maguire to Manchester United in the summer, an awful lot of pressure is on the shoulders of Caglar Soyuncu.
The Turkish defender, who arrived at Leicester in August 2018, has seen a lot more first team action since Maguire completed his £80million move to Old Trafford.
But the only one not feeling the pressure of being the England international's replacement is Soyuncu himself.
In fact, the 23-year-old's only mistake this season came during their 1-0 defeat at Manchester United when he gave away the penalty - soft in Brendan Rodgers' eyes - which was ultimately the winning goal.
But the Foxes boss was full of praise for Soyuncu ahead of their match at home to Tottenham on Saturday.
“It’s only when you work closely with him when you appreciate his qualities," he said.
LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS
"For a modern-day centre-half, he’s what you’d want. He firstly wants to defend, he’s aggressive in the air, he wants to defend forward, physically he’s got good strength, he’s quick and covers the ground well and he can play.
Soyuncu was even compared to Germany international Mats Hummels by talkSPORT's European football expert Andy Brassell.
And Soyuncu didn't disappoint for Spurs' visit as he helped his side come from behind to beat Mauricio Pochettino's men.
Harry Kane gave the visitors the lead but goals from Ricardo Pereira and James Maddison gave Leicester the three points.
However, Soyuncu was the standout performer and was given talkSPORT's man-of-the-match award.
And Stuart Pearce, who was alongside Sam Matterface and Reshmin Chowdhury at the King Power Stadium, heaped huge praise on Soyuncu.
Pearce said: "My man of the match is Soyuncu. I thought he was wonderful today, he had a really solid game at the heart of Leicester’s back line against a very good Tottenham strike force.
"I was going to pick Maddison for his goal, but I think it’s a game in which Soyuncu stood out."
It wasn't just Pearce who reserved praise for the defender, with former Leicester striker Gary Lineker and Jamie Carragher also having their say.
Lineker tweeted: "Seems clear now why @LCFC didn't bother reinvesting the @HarryMaguire93 fee for another central defender.
"They knew how good Soyuncu is. Deserves the dots above his name."
Meanwhile, ex-Liverpool defender Carragher tweeted: "Love watching Soyuncu for Leicester."