Cedric Soares has opened up on being an Arsenal fan long before he joined the club.
The Portuguese full-back is one of the first players that Arsenal signed under Mikel Arteta.
He joined the Gunners initially on loan from Southampton before signing a permanent deal as a free agent at the end of the 2019/2020 campaign.
Soares has struggled to be a regular at the Emirates since he joined the club, but he might remain at the Emirates for a long time after revealing he has been a fan since Arsene Wenger days.
“I used to play Football Manager a lot with Arsenal,” he says to ESPN.
“I knew all the players at the time, when they were champions with [Robert] Pires, [Thierry] Henry and this fantastic team. So, there was always this feeling for Arsenal.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
It is a good thing that Soares has been following the club long before now, but as a player, all that matters is his performance on the pitch.
Better players have rightly overtaken the Portuguese full-back in the pecking order.
No matter how much he loves Arsenal as a club, if he is interested in playing football, he should look to leave.
He would hardly bench Takehiro Tomiyasu in the foreseeable future, and Arteta could even field Ainsley Maitland-Niles ahead of him in some Arsenal matches.
It would be interesting to see if he stays on the bench and runs down his current deal at the Emirates or asks to leave soon.
Not good enough. Another bizarre
Raul, Edu and Kia deal to milk Arsenal.
4 yrs deal for a squad player now 30yrs old. Edu remains the remnant of the clique we should get rid. They also bought Mari and Pepe for 72m.
Poor Arsenal
He and Mari were signed when we needed a right back and left-sided centre back, cost the club very little money and put in some decent performances when needed. Who should we have signed at the same expense at that time to fill the gaping holes in the squad?