Arsenal is reportedly keen on signing Cedric Soares before the transfer window closes.
The Gunners want to make him their second signing under Mikel Arteta and so many fans have been wondering “Why Cedric?”
Arsenal is operating under a limited budget this month but the Gunners know that it could be disastrous if they don’t add defenders to their struggling backline.
Soares is a decent player, he, however, fell out of favour at Southampton at the end of last season and he was shipped out to Inter Milan on loan.
Inter decided against making his loan deal permanent and Southampton have decided to allow him to stay and run down his current deal.
He will be a free agent at the end of this season, so what should Arsenal expect from him.
Soares is not a journeyman footballer, he is talented and can do a job, certainly in rotation, for Mikel Arteta.
He was a member of the Portugal team that won the 2016 Euros as well as winning third place in the FIFA Confederation Cups in 2017.
He is a good tackler, but his major strength is his attacking abilities. Soares is one of the best crossers of the ball, knows when to get forward, and I reckon he will be a quality backup to Hector Bellerin.
Arsenal has used Maitland Niles as a deputy to Bellerin so far, but Soares would represent a more experienced option.
The January market is a risky one to get good players in and Soares does represent a safe option from a financial perspective.
No AdminMart please dont do this. We all watched Soares at Saints, he WAS excellent at RB not anymore. This article is locked in a time warp, you honestly dont believe what you just wrote do you? be honest! I for one know what we’re signing and wont be expecting much of him as a stand-in RB. That’s the reality. I welcome him and wish him success nevertheless
Well you dont just wake up one day and suddenly lose your talent at 28, especially with no major injuries so who are you to say he wont regain his form? He might just be stagnant at the saints and need a fresh scenery to get back to form, could he a shrewd piece of business.
No major injuries. He’s currently out with a knee ligament injury.
It’s still a pretty minor injury hes only been out a week and is back in 2 weeks
The whole Saints team let them down during the first part of the season. Soares is not a bad left back, not the best wing back though. AMN has concentration problems and often struggles to get back. Soares may better as cover for Hector than AMN. Concentration and mindfulness are undervalued at Arsenal and are very often the cause of defeats. I think Arteta knows what he is doing getting Soares.
We never heard of robertson until liverpool signed him and look at him now,one of the best full backs going forward(for me his defence is poor).And that is what we need positivity,trust in our manager.
Football is an art and Mikel ARTeta knows what he is doing than all of us
Soares was not a success at Inter Milan and the fans and Management at Southampton no longer rate him.These are the facts.We are taking him on loan because he is available(although currently injured) and cheap.I hope I am wrong but I do not feel he will strengthen our squad.His signing does however indicate that AMN may be given an opportunity to operate in midfield possibly at the expense of Ceballos?
How do you know AMN best position it’s in the middle, the boy has said severally that he’s best position is on the wings but people keeps saying he’s a midfielder.
Lenohappy on the subject of Soares, we will have to agree to differ.The guy, who is 5ft8″ and not particularly good in the air,was a fine player as evidenced by the fact that he was a regular for the very successful Portugese national side.However he is no longer in the Portugal side and according to a good friend who is a seasoned ticket holder at Southampton, he has been “dire all season” I am not a huge fan of Bellerin but Soares is at best a mediocre player.
Grandad, you mention ONE Southampton fan.
Read what other fans say on Soares leaving – yesterday:
https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/southampton/news/51849/
(the comments section)
“not at the cost of losing a top class first team regular like Cedric.”
“We need to keep Cedric at least until end of the season and who knows maybe longer on recent showing”
“We should be getting Cedric Soares on a new contract now not letting him go for £5 million. He is far to good to let go for that sort of money and he is only 28.”
“More daftness! The team has been playing well with Cedric at right back”
“Just to highlight how bad we are without Cedric, we haven’t won a single league game this season when he wasn’t in the team”
It seems your good friend is in the minority.
Not a single win in the season when Soares was not in the team. But maybe he’s just their talisman…
Well before getting injured he played 16 games as part of Southampton’s resurgence back up the table this year so I dont think it’s as cut and dry as that, hes not as bad as people here are making out, people are just sick of us penny pinching and so assume the worst with cheap players, and to be fair rightfully so lol
I was surprised at some of the comments i read about him yesterday, this guy is a better defender than bellerin, and he’s also good in the air unlike bellerin and Niles. Just because Southampton are letting him go doesn’t mean he’s a bad player, what if he was the one who decided not to renew his contract with Southampton, I don’t know who you guys have been watching but as for me, when it comes to defending I will choose this guy ahead of bellerin all day.
If Barcelona or Real Madrid came calling for Soares, the Arsenal fans wiould plead with the board to buy him as soon as possible. The problem with the fans is that they suffer from inferiority complex. They don’t have confidence in their manager neither do they have confidence in their own players. Look at the way Arteta has improved the likes of Xhaxha, AMN, Mustafi etc. After all the guy is coming on loan and if he doesn’t make the grade he will obviously not be signed permanently.
I have to agree
The prospects of Soares interesting the likes of Barca or Real Madrid is as remote as me winning the 100 metres Gold at the Olympics at 72 years of age.
Not at all Grandad.
Remember – Barca took Kevin Prince Boateng on a loan a year or so ago, and Soares is a slightly better fullback than Boateng a striker.
Teams of Arsenal’s stature do not typically have better 2nd choice fullbacks than Soares. Even Barca’s backups in that position are barely marginally better than him (although you have to fault Barca’s recent incompetence for that at least partially)
I nearly wet myself when I was told we maybe/were signing Soares. I thought it was Everton Soares Lol.
I had high hopes for Bellerin when he broke into the 1st team. Everyone was raving about his pace, how he could run the 100m faster than anyone else in the Premier League.
The problem in my eyes is his lack intelligent judgement. He liked to attack and push forward really high up the pitch but his crossing or final ball was not up to standard. When he’s so far up the pitch it leaves a huge gap down that right wing and when we got turned over I didn’t see that pace in getting back to defend or win the ball back. It was almost looks like he was jogging back! He also became complacent in his role knowing there was no one else in the squad to challenge him for that position. Injuries haven’t been kind to him as well as is the same for most of the squad.
He seems to be reinvigorated and up for the challenge under Arteta. The other night against Bournmouth I could see some hunger back in his attitude and work rate.
I see a lot of people questioning the Cedric Soares speculation. Why Inter Milan didn’t want him and why Southampton aren’t that bothered about letting him go. The same for Pablo Mari. “Never heard of him”, Why did City let him go & why was he playing in a weak Brazilian league and not playing for a mid to top European team.!?! I’ll point you in the direction of Mo Salah and Kevin De Bruyne. They were both on Chelsea’s books but someone at Chelsea didn’t deem them good enough for the premier league and let them go. All they needed was a manager who believed in their potential, nurtured and encouraged them and then gave them the opportunity.
Well Mari is here and it looks like Soares will be to. Give them time to adjust to new surroundings and Arteta’s vision. Reserve your judgement. I have given Arteta and the whole squad a clean slate (apart from Mustafi, he’s a lost hope).
👍 Sound analysis Dan, it should be up to Arteta who he wants to bring in.
How would Cédric Soares fit in at Arsenal?
The treatment room, because he’s injured.
Why else would we loan him but to fit in the treatment room with Tierney. We are looking for two crocked CBs for the tables in between. Lol
Lol @Reggie, you need a stand up mic.