After Pepe, Arsenal could now terminate 32-year-old’s contract this summer

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Arsenal may end up having to terminate defender Cedric Soares’s contract in order for him to leave the club.

Journalist Charles Watts was speaking on the Arsecast Podcast ahead of a very busy deadline day.

Arsenal fans will be hoping that there’s one more surprise incoming at the Emirates.

Right now, it appears as though the focus is very much on outgoings.

Arsenal are trying to shift several players who are surplus to requirements right now and won’t feature in Mikel Arteta’s squad.

Nuno Tavares will be heading to Nottingham Forest with Fabrizio Romano sharing an update on that move late last night.

Another player the club want to move on is defender Cedric Soares.

However, interest in Cedric has been limited and Arsenal may now have to terminate his contract.

It’s the last solution the Gunners will want to use, but Cedric and winger Nicolas Pepe could suffer the indignation of being released before their deals run out.

Arsenal might terminate Cedric’s contract

Speaking about the pair’s future at the Emirates, Watts said: “The Saudi window thing is an interesting one in the fact that it does go on for a little bit longer, this could drag on a little bit longer than Friday.

“The words contract termination and Arsenal are never far away and for [Nicolas] Pepe that still feels like the most likely option at the moment.

“Arsenal would dearly love a Saudi club to sort of firm up interest and there has been some interest in him from those clubs but they just never firmed it up with a bid.

“Although Saudi clubs are throwing money at people, they’re also not stupid.

“They will look at the Pepe situation and if you’re a club who did have any sort of interest in signing him, you would think, ‘Well I think if we wait this out, he’s probably going to be available on a free at some point’.

“It’s a difficult one for Arsenal, it’s not a great situation.

“I would put Cedric in this one as well. I kind of look at those two players as the last remaining, I don’t want to say dregs as that sounds really harsh but the last remaining players of that era of expensive contracts and transfer mistakes that Arsenal need to try and resolve.

“And I think those are the last two players that might end up going the same way as the likes of Mesut [Ozil], [Shkodran] Mustafi and Sokratis [Papastathopoulos].”

Arsenal will wait until after deadline day to cancel Cedric’s contract just in case there’s some last-minute interest.

Although he didn’t cost Arsenal anything, he’s on big wages and hasn’t really made a meaningful contribution since arriving from Southampton.

Moving him on now before the end of his current deal seems like the best solution for all parties.