Cedric Soares is claimed to be have clubs chasing his signature in the coming window, with the Portuguese keen to quit Arsenal in search of more regular playing time.
The defender has fallen further down the pecking order this season following Ben White’s move to full-back in order to accommodate all of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba into the same starting XI. The move has worked wonders for the club domestically, with the Gunners flying high to top the Premier League table by five points at present, but with Takehiro Tomiyasu also ahead of Cedric in the fight for a starting spot, the latter is now considering his options.
Michael Bridges insists that boss Mikel Arteta may block his departure however unless a decent replacement could be found, possibly due to the recurring injuries of both Kieran Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko down the left which has seen the Japanese defender feature down the left this term.
“My information is that Arteta feels they might be a little bit light, so they might stop one of the fringe players going.” Bridges told GMS.
“For example, there’s a lot of interest in Cedric and my understanding is he wants to move on, but Arsenal won’t allow that unless they bring someone else in.
“I think, at Arsenal, maybe we’ll see one or two coming in and one or two going out in January. But I think it would be quality coming in and surplus going out. I don’t think Arsenal have to worry too much yet about any big names leaving.
Cedric has been the utmost professional since arriving at the club, knowing that he was never a guaranteed starter, and has always continued to train hard and set a good example on the training ground and when waiting patiently to feature. If he wants to leave to play more regularly however, we should allow this to happen, but not at the detriment of our own playing squad.
I do wonder whether any of our youngsters could be deserving of a chance to be considered for a role in the side, but while we have players enjoying regular football out on loan. It could work against us to recall someone knowing they are playing regularly elsewhere, but at the same time, it would make it even harder for one of our next generation to break through if we continue to sign players ahead of them in the pecking order also.
Patrick
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