Arsenal will keep Cedric Soares unless they make new signing – journalist

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Sky reporter Michael Bridge has told Give Me Sport that Arsenal will not allow Cedric Soares to leave in January unless they manage to find a replacement, despite the right-back wanting to leave the club.

The 31-year-old has become something of a forgotten man amongst Mikel Arteta’s squad. He has only made two appearances in the Premier League this season, finding himself on the pitch for less than half an hour across the two games.

Reports from Tuttomercatoweb recently suggested that Fulham, Bayer Leverkusen and Villarreal all want Cedric. And his agent had held talks with all three clubs about a potential move ahead of the January transfer window.

Arsenal will keep Cedric unless they find replacement

You would assume that Arsenal would be open to letting the Portuguese leave.

Ben White has been outstanding at right-back this season. And Arteta’s squad now has plenty of depth in both full-back roles.

However, it would seem that the Gunners would prefer not to lose Cedric. In fact, Bridge has suggested that he will be going nowhere unless they manage to sign someone else.

“My information is that Arteta feels they might be a little bit light, so they might stop one of the fringe players going,” he told Give Me Sport.

“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.”

In fairness to Cedric, he appears to bring a lot to the group, even without playing. He is an experienced member of a very young squad. Mikel Arteta lauded his efforts in training earlier this season.

He has been described as a ‘fantastic‘ player. And it says a lot that clubs at the highest level in England, Spain and Germany all want the former Southampton man.

Perhaps Arsenal feel that any fee which comes in will not make a sale worthwhile. They can hardly command a significant figure from his admirers. And replacing him for whatever fee they receive will not be easy.