David Ornstein of The Athletic has revealed that Southampton were pleasantly surprised to receive an offer for Cedric Soares in the final days of the window.
Reporting in his weekly ‘Ornstein on Monday’ column, Ornstein confirmed that Southampton ‘could hardly believe’ that Arsenal were keen on signing the Portuguese international despite Cedric’s injury status, with Ralph Hasenhuttl confirming to Southampton’s official website last month that the 28-year-old could be out for three weeks.
The fullback joined Arsenal on an initial loan deal for the rest of the season (per BBC Sport), though it is expected the Gunners will permanently sign Cedric in the summer when his contract expires after the defender admitted via The Telegraph he will be leaving Southampton when his deal comes to an end.
With the general conscious around Cedric before the final week of the transfer window being that the Portuguese defender would hang around before leaving for free, Southampton have a good reason to be surprised that Arsenal were willing to take the right-back off their hands as well as take the financial burden.
Although Cedric has been a crucial first-team player for Hasenhuttl’s side, with stats from Transfermarkt showing that the defender played every game during Southampton’s golden period of this season, it financially made sense for the Saints to offload the defender whilst they still could with money on the table for the Portuguese international.
Cedric was a fantastic servant for Southampton, with stats from Transfermarkt showing that the fullback made 138 appearances in total in his five seasons for the south coast club, yet for a player with only six-months remaining on his current deal, the Saints can feel good about themselves in financially benefitting from his surprise departure.
The arrival of Kyle Walker-Peters (per Southampton’s official website) has also severally numbed the replacement process for Cedric, with the Tottenham defender likely to fill in for the Portuguese fullback following the conclusion of the winter break, and Southampton are seemingly be pleased with the business they managed to conduct.
Southampton fans, were the club right to sell Cedric? Let us know!
