The Athletic’s James McNicholas has had say on the future of Cédric Soares. The full-back is currently on loan at Arsenal from Southampton but his contract with the Saints is due to expire at the end of this month (as per Transfermarkt.co.uk).
The Portuguese defender joined the North London giants at the end of January but has yet to feature for Mikel Arteta’s side due to injury. The situation regarding the 28-year-old’s contract is a complex one. In order for the player’s loan spell with the Gunners to be extended, he would need to sign a short extension with Southampton otherwise Arsenal would need to sign him permanently themselves, in which case, he wouldn’t be eligible to participate for the rest of the campaign due to restrictions around transfers outside of the window.
Would you like to see Arsenal take a gamble and sign Cedric Soares this summer?
Yes
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McNicholas, speaking on the latest Arsecast Extra confirmed that to be the situation and said: “He’d have to agree an extension with Southampton and then consequently extend the loan. I wonder if that might be Arsenal’s preference. Because then they get a bit more time to have a look at him.”
On whether he thinks the club will make their move to secure Soares’ services ahead of next season he added: “I’ve always thought that Arsenal would sign him because it’s a deal that can be done in what is likely to be a difficult market very easily. They feel they need another right-back, he is a right-back, he’s there, he won’t cost a transfer fee and I can’t imagine his wages are going to be too crazy.”
Hector Bellerin is perhaps likely to be the club’s first-choice right-back for the trip to Manchester City on Wednesday night but during the Spaniard’s spell on the sidelines, the Gunners found themselves without natural cover for the position and were forced to play Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a midfielder by trade, as a full-back in his absence.
Calum Chambers has also covered the role from time to time but with the 25-year-old having suffered a serious injury at the end of 2019, you can understand why Mikel Arteta felt the need to recruit in that area of the field.
TIF Thoughts…
If the club were to sign Cedric Soares this summer, they would be getting an experienced former Portuguese international who was crowned a European champion in the summer of 2016 (via Transfermarkt.co.uk).
He already has plenty of Premier League experience, having played 120 times in the competition to date and with the global pandemic expected to have a huge impact on the summer transfer market, we suspect Arteta may see the player as a low-cost solution to an area in which he clearly needs to add depth.