Arsenal: Three clubs in for Cedric; ex-player rated worst summer transfer at new club


Arsenal defender Cedric Soares is reportedly attracting interest from Fulham, Villarreal and Bayer Leverkusen.

Cedric joined Arsenal on loan from Southampton in January 2020 before making his move permanent on a free transfer six months later.

Mikel Arteta actually made the decision to sign Cedric on a four-year deal despite the fact he had not played a single minute for the Gunners.

He joined with an injury and couldn’t make his debut until July due to the Covid-19 postponement of the Premier League.

The Euro 2016-winning right-back actually scored on his Arsenal debut, striking from outside the box in a 4-0 win over Norwich City.

Cedric has often been called upon despite being signed to provide depth.

With Takehiro Tomiyasu struggling with injuries in his debut season, he often played right-back in 2021-22.

Kieran Tierney also has a bad injury history, which has seen Cedric fill in on the left side of Arteta’s defence.

William Saliba returned to the club in the summer, meaning Benjamin White has been first-choice right-back this term.

And Oleksandr Zinchenko was signed in July, meaning Cedric has fallen further down the pecking order.

The 31-year-old has had injury issues himself this term and has only played the full 90 minutes of one match – the loss against Brighton in the Carabao Cup last week.

It is a long season and with the FA Cup getting underway when the domestic season resumes, as well as the return of the Europa League, Arteta will be thankful to have Cedric.

However, he is attracting interest from elsewhere and could leave the club in the winter transfer window.

According to football.london, Bayer Leverkusen, Fulham and Villarreal have all shown an interest.

All three had initially tried to sign Cedric in the summer, but he decided to stay at the Emirates.

Cedric’s agent has been contacted by each club, but Arteta may be eager to keep hold of the former Southampton man.

Cedric has been seen taking training sessions for Arsenal’s under-15s side on several occasions as he looks to obtain his coaching badges.

Arteta loves having the Portuguese at the club due to his experience and professionalism and it is believed the player would have more minutes – especially in the Europa League – under his belt this term if it wasn’t for injury.

While Cedric did not leave the club in the summer, Hector Bellerin did.

Bellerin re-joined Barcelona after 11 years in north London.

The 27-year-old enjoyed a fruitful loan spell with Real Betis last term, helping the Spanish club win the Copa del Rey.

Barcelona boss Xavi brought him to the club on a free transfer to help bolster his defensive options.

The player has not enjoyed the best time at the Nou Camp, however, and has been ranked the club’s worst signing of the summer.

Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo recently asked fans to assess Barca’s summer business.

With Robert Lewandowksi (9.32) and Jules Kounde (7.82) receiving stellar ratings, Bellerin was given a rating of… 4.42. Ouch.

Barca fans can be pretty brutal, and if you don’t show a lot of promise, you will probably become public enemy number one.

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