Arsenal man wanted by Turkish club
Several reports have emerged from Turkey stating that Fenerbahçe are interested in Arsenal’s Cedric Soares.
The newly appointed manager Vitor Pereira wants to strengthen the team at his disposal before heading into the new season.
And it has been reported that he sees his countryman Cedric as the perfect player at the right-back slot and is “determined” to make a move this summer.
Let’s keep up the hard work! 🗣️🔴⚪#Arsenal #PreSeason #Hardwork #Focus #Scotland #COYG #Work pic.twitter.com/UsCTpfno3x
— Cédric Soares (@OficialCedric) July 17, 2021
However, due to the financial impact of the pandemic on the club’s finances, The Yellow Canaries will try to negotiate a loan deal with an option to buy outright next summer.
Right-back is one of the positions where even though Arsenal are well-stocked, they will be open to adding another one, if they are successful in moving out some.
As of now, the Gunners will start the new season with four right-backs in Hector Bellerin, Calum Chambers, Cedric Soares and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.
Bellerin and Maitland-Niles look likely to leave the club with several clubs across Europe interested in acquiring the services of the duo.
Even though Chambers and Cedric have impressed when handed the opportunities, the club will seek a fresher body on that side of the pitch. Barcelona’s Sergiño Dest and Norwich City’s Max Aarons are the two names which have been heavily floated around.
If the North London outfit are able to find suitors for Bellerin, Maitland-Niles and Cedric, then their pursuits of a new right-back might be accelerated ahead of the new season.
Vitor Perreira is a big admirer of Cedric, who won the European Championships with Portugal in 2016. The reports have stated that Perreira, who has also coached Porto and Olympiacos, sees his countryman as the perfect man for his playing style.
The former Southampton man is also believed to be “warmly looking at separation” due to the uncertainty regarding his minutes on the pitch.
Arsenal fans would welcome the news as majority have been unimpressed with his performances. Despite being a decent player, the club’s faithful would like to see a similar unstoppable force like Kieran Tierney on the right side of the pitch.
I had to smile at the use of “happy” instead of the more accurate “content” in this headline . JAs headlines so often hype our emotions as well as much else.
If I woke up next morning to the news that Cedric had left, I would not be dancing with joy, while screeching”YES AND FINALLY”,as I would be with Bellerin and Xhaka departing, though Id think it the right move by MA.
Sorry for this odd post but the word pedant in me had to find humour out of that word “happy”.
What would REALLY make me happy would be for this ghastly Covid to finally go to Mars or any other planet but ours
Only on a permanent, loan wouldn’t make sense. Bring in max aarons to compete with chambers and sell cedric and bellerin.
Pros:
– Hardworking
– Great close control
– Good crosser and shooter
– Seems to be growing in the LB position
Cons:
– Will be 30 years old next month
– Short
– Not slow, but not pacey either
An attacking fullback role requires a young defender with high stamina to go up and down the pitch, so unfortunately we’ll need to sell an old team player like Soares when an opportunity arises
Gai, Do you think max aarons would a good signing?
Never noticed him, but he might be a good option if Arsenal want to build a strong English clique at the Emirates. I’d prefer a taller RB like Reece James or Matty Cash though
He shouldn’t have been bought anyway
Came in mainly because of Kia Joorabchan connection with Edu
He’s very average on the level of Elneny and Kolasinac
C. Soars I think is good defensively and pros outweighs his Cons. However, age is absolutely not in his favour as diminishing returns will soon set in. My verdict is he should not be sold unless their is a better replacement in view. His crosses are very good and would have created several assist if Arsena had towering CF.
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OK, but AMN isn’t really a right-back. By trade, he’s a midfielder. He only deputised at RB when we were short in that department. Which leaves us with just 3 senior players in the position (even if he stays).
The real question is, what happens when Bellerin leaves. Are Chambers and Cedric good enough to fill that gap? Don’t get me wrong, Cedric has been decent and Chambers showed massive improvement – like, I don’t see much difference between him and Reece James, and he might improve even more. But still, if we’re thinking about breaking into Europe, I do think we need a proper RB.
zdzis, AMN was selected for the England squad as a RB. Every recent manager/coach he has played under has tried to help him have the “light bulb” moment that he is a better RB, than a midfielder and that’s where his future lies.
Sure. Loan with an obligation to buy. Few millions is enough.
In my mind Chambers should be our starting RB and Cedric the backup. I think those are 2 good RB options.
I think the negativity towards Bellerin (including from myself) has at times been excessive – he’s a good RB – but it’s time for him to move on (he clearly recognises this himself), and I don’t think we actually need to replace him.
If we also sold Cedric, then we’d be short.
Agree with Davi – we cant afford a RB upgrade this season. Chambers is our guy he’s by no means poor, just slow.
If we let Cedric go we have no natural cover – do we really want to play other guys out of position again?
A decent offer – sell him. A loan with no fee which is likely – WHY would we do it? That’s the Tierney cover mistake all over again.
Cedric no worldbeater but you don’t play for Portugal if you are poor. Never first choice but cover just for this season.
I actually think chambers will win a lot of people over if he can stay fit this season. Much more talented than I had previously realised and I think he has great mentality
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Sorry didnt mention Bellerin. Disagree with Davi there – he is an awful defender, always has been. Tackling, positioning, marking, heading, commitment, basic common sense in defence all poor. Used to escape with pace only. We thought his defending would develop with experience but it never has. His midfield and wing play are good for a back, but sorry he’s not good enough for a pure midfield slot, so he falls short in every position. Never grew as expected, bad injury essentially curtailed all hope of improvement to top level as it took away his biggest asset of pace. And it’s not like he hasn’t had game time, but being a nice guy only buys you so much credit.
Yeah he’s not the best defensively, just don’t think he’s quite as bad as made out. Going forward he’s occasionally brilliant but usually meh. Should have moved on years ago to avoid this stagnation
Poor positioning, looses his man too often, poor defender.
There are up and coming fullbacks (L&R) at Hale End, who deserve opportunities.
Calum Chambers, provided he stays fit, is a talented RB, CB and DM. His utility value is high, but it should be remembered he came originally from Southampton as a RB.
In short just let Soares go on a free.
In short no one will pay nada for him.
Like othe big clubs Arsenal paid big transfer fees and high salaries in pre covid’s prosperous times.
Kolasinac Soares and Willian though coming on a free are on crazy salaries no one wants them.
Only an idiot club would pay a fee for Bellerin Elneny Torreira or Lacazette when they can get them free next summer.
We either lose them for free now or lose them for a free in a years time.
What’s the difference?
Club pride apparently?
But where did club pride get us with
Ramsey Sanchez Ozil Mkhitarian Mustafi and Socritis?
We lost every poker game, fell flat on our face.
And that was in the boom financial times.
What chance of winning any transfer poker with clubs cash strapped post covid?
Club pride is one thing pragmatism is another.
Some good points there Fairfan. Fans would slaughter management though if we gave away even more for free! Remember Tierney’s injury though after we loaned Kolasinac – hence I say for now keep Cedric. Couldn’t handle another team shuffle if Chambers gets injured!
I wish I knew how we got to screw every possible deal up. We gave Ozil the earth because after Sanchez we fans wouldnt allow our other big star to be let go. Now every player who wants out is basically playing the Ozil card ie let me go where I want basically for free. Tail wagging the dog again…
No. I’d be very angry. For me this would be another Martinez situation.
He’s the best RB we have, he’s an amazing player, proper ball control, has an eye for a pass, intelligent, speedy, he’s the kind that would comfortably play RW if our coach were a bit more innovative because I’ve seen Cedric drift into the CAM position for a whole half.
You don’t start for Portugal if you’re average. But I think most fans, just like they did Martinez, don’t rate him because he wasn’t an expensive signing.
For me, if we have to, we only should sign a third choice RB because we have everything we need for a full back in Cedric, and Chambers as his back-up.
*I don’t get the craze of wanting full-backs to be tall.
I kind of agree Dandy. Cedric has IMO always been unfairly criticised by Arsenal fans. He is not a bad player – perhaps because he is functional rather than flamboyant, but a good defender and a gret pro.
Whilst I personally prefer Chambers, possibly just through personal favouritism, I have always thought Cedric was a very adequate cover.
But his age now means he can’t have a longterm future here, so for me he won’t stay if we get a fee.
Very well put guy.
I’m happy atleast someone else sees the good in him.
What you say about getting a fee is true as well. If we got a fee more than what we paid for him, it would make sense selling him.
If so why was he not playing for Southampton but rather warmed Southampton bench
He’s here because Edu and Kia Joorabchian said so.
He was always the first choice RB at Southampton, you can check his number of appearances.
Injuries were his drawback towards his final days there.
If we’re not going to bring another RB it would make total sense to sell Bellerin and keep Soares.
Cedric is a fair player, but he will not be good enough for an EPL challenging side. If we could get Max Aarons we would have a young, athletic, hungry player for many years. Maybe Arteta has Tavares on his mind as a RB, he has a good right foot.
As we now have cover for Tierney at LB ,Soares can go particularly as I suspect we will be unable to sell Bellerin.In any event Chambers would be my first choice to start against Brentford.He is a player who is underrated by many but thankfully Arteta appears to recognise his defensive strengths, excellent crossing ability ,and last but not least, his excellent attitude and spirit.On the downside, he lacks real pace, but I have yet to see a winger skin him on a regular basis because he has good positional sense.When Tierney is bombing down the left, Chambers invariably tucks in beside our right CB to protect against a counter attack.He also links well with Saka and Pepe whereas Bellerin invariably overlaps which causes Pepe in particular to move inside and play deeper.Chambers to me is a very decent footballer.
If a decent RB is brought instead, then yes. Otherwise, I’d keep him. We’re thin when it comes to RB.
Wenger actually bought Chambers from Southampton as a right back, if I remember correctly. He is a good full back. Sad to say Bellerin will hold us back, I would like to see us ‘Upgrade’ to Max Aarons. If we want to compete at the next level we need ‘Top Players’.
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He is a back up to Chambers in RB.
Like some other players in the squad, he can provide cover in a fairly decent way.
I do not know the finance part, but if Arsenal can get an alternative backup from within the squad like White, or we kept Bellerin or any other RB. I would ship him for profit.
If he can be sold for 5m now then do it, ditto Bellerin at 15m.
20m would probably be enough to buy Aarons or my preference Dumfries.
However, if we cannot get cash now then stay as we are, Bellerin and Cedric both have 2 years min, to run.
Only decent right back we have !!! And certainly not before seeing the back, in no particular order, of Willian xhaka bellerin elneny Willock Nelson kolasinac nketiah …
I always thought Cedric was a strange signing; just one of those excruciating punts the do little except raise the wage bill. Max Aarons would be my choice, but I don’t fancy our chances.
Haven’t needed him so far, so there’s nothing to miss. Why he was given a three year contract was always a mystery. Another player who would suit a mid table, EPL, or Championship promotion contending team.