Arsenal are yet to decide whether to allow Cedric Soares to leave the club, with fellow Premier League club Fulham claimed to be eyeing a loan with an option to buy.
The Portuguese has found first-team football hard to come-by this term, with Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu ahead of him in the pecking order at right-back, and it seems logical that he would question his role in the side.
Despite the fact that the 31 year-old hasn’t started a single PL game this season, with his only start coming in the League Cup defeat at the hands of Brighton, our club is still claimed to be unsure whether to sign off on his departure, with the Standard quoting Mikel Arteta in describing his overall squad as ‘short’.
The only issue that I can see is the recurring injuries for both Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko on the left, which has seen Tomiyasu move over to cover on the opposite flank, leaving us a little short of options. It could well be that we are considering our options within the club and out on loan for covering his role in the squad, or possibly considering entering into the market to bring in a younger alternative who could challenge for a role in the coming years.
Given Soares professional mentality, I feel like keeping him would actually be the best option. There is no point in leaving ourselves short, and recalling one of our loanees who are impressing elsewhere could be negating the effects of the initial loan deal where they were picking up important minutes. I don’t feel like we would 100% need the numbers in the squad, but it wouldn’t be the first time we left ourselves short by similar decisions before getting hit by injuries.
What do you think would be best for Arsenal FC? Does anyone believe Soares would kick up a fuss if we forced him to see out the season?
Patrick