Club's key player has joined Aston Villa, £75k-a-week Arsenal player now target to replace him

Villarreal are now keen to sign Arsenal defender Cedric Soares after they sold defender Pau Torres to Aston Villa.

A report from Spanish publication Sport has outlined more details about Villarreal’s pursuit of the full-back.

Many Arsenal fans will be surprised that Unai Emery is still having an impact on their transfer negotiations.

He’s done a fantastic job at Aston Villa and is attempting to build a squad capable of competing in the Premier League and Europe.

Emery has secured a key target in centre-back Pau Torres, who left boyhood club Villarreal £31.5m last week.

After Villa signed Torres, Villarreal are exploring options to replace him and a key target is Arsenal defender Cedric Soares.

The £75,000-a-week Portuguese international is now surplus to requirements at the Emirates.

He was allowed to leave on loan in January but failed to make much of an impact at Fulham.

He’s now been left out of Arsenal’s pre-season tour with the expectation that he’ll be leaving the club.

After Villa sign Torres, Villarreal want Arsenal defender Cedric

The report from Sport suggests that Torres leaving was ‘one of the most important casualties’ of the summer for Villarreal.

They go on to say that, ‘one of the main candidates to reinforce that hurt defensive line is that of Arsenal’s right-back, Cédric Soares.’

They mention that Premier League clubs and all three of the biggest clubs in Portugal are keen on him too.

Informal talks have reportedly been and an offer from Villarreal is expected in the ‘near future’.

The transfer merry-go-round often sees players come and go based on the actions of rivals.

Villarreal trying to replace Torres with Arsenal’s Cedric after his move to Aston Villa doesn’t appear to make a huge amount of sense on paper.

The Spanish international is a towering centre-back with plenty of scope to still improve.

Cedric is a diminutive full-back, capable of playing on either flank but rarely in the middle of defence.

Arsenal won’t care too much about Villarreal’s reasoning for wanting Cedric.

Instead, they’ll be happy to shift his wages off the books this summer as long as they receive a decent offer.