Cedric Soares
After a series of negotiations between Arsenal and Flamengo, a loan deal for Pablo Mari was reached and the club unveiled Dani Ceballos their shiny new defender. The Telegraph reported that Arsenal has some interest in signing Southampton’s Cedric Soares, which will add some depth on the right back position.
Defense is a department of the squad that requires massive overhauling with the Gunners conceding goals for fun this season. Yes, Bernd Leno, has been superb with some breathsaving saves in the course of the campaign, but the defensive leaks have not been patched, with the Gunners languishing in mid-table and finding clean sheets hard to come by.
We expected a center back to join the club in the January transfer window, with the injury problems faced by Calum Chambers and more recently, Skhodran Mustafi. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Rob Holding have gone in and out of the treatment table in the course of the season, leaving David Luiz as the fittest center back of the bunch, but he’s reaching his twilight years. It was a case of the club linked with Pablo Mari, Mykola Matviyenko or some defensive alien from outer space, but the defensive situation at the club is a huge cause for concern.
Arsenal fans will be hoping for Pablo Mari to hit the ground running, but I will expect him to stay on the bench when the Gunners visit Turf Moor to take on Burnley this weekend. The home game against Newcastle should be a perfect platform to unleash Pablo Mari to the Arsenal faithful and I believe he will turn out to be a wonderful signing for the club.
Cedric Soares, on the other hand, is a vastly experienced right back that was instrumental to Portugal’s triumphant Euro 2016 campaign. He has been an ever-present for Southampton since he joined the club in 2015. Cedric has had his fair share of injury problems, but he has been a model of consistency for the Saint.
I also love the fact that he has a decent free kick in him and his delivery from the right flank will come in handy. He will also serve as a good back to Hector Bellerin, but one wonders what the future would hold for Ainsley Maitland-Niles that has deputized in that position for quite some time. Maybe Mikel Arteta sees his future in midfield, but the manager knows best.
We will keep monitoring the Cedric situation and hope that we can seal a deal for him before the window shuts tomorrow.
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