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Arsenal agree deal to sign Portuguese star as Arteta closes in on second signing

By on January 29, 2020

According to the Telegraph, Arsenal are set to sign Cedric Soares on loan from Southampton with a view to signing the full-back on a permanent four-year deal in the summer.

Mikel Arteta has been on the look-out for defensive reinforcements this month as we’ve continued to be woeful at the back this season and a new centre-back was a priority after Calum Chambers was ruled out for the rest of the season.

The club announced a deal to sign Pablo Mari from Flamengo earlier today with the Spanish centre-back arriving on an initial six-month loan with Arsenal having an option to make it permanent in the summer.

It looks like we’ve now turned our attention to bringing in another full-back before the transfer window closes on Friday night as reports emerged on Wednesday afternoon that we are in for Southampton’s Cedric Soares.

The Telegraph claims a deal is now in place for Arsenal to sign the Portuguese international on loan for the rest of the season with the club holding an option to sign Soares on a four-year deal in the summer.

Sky Sports News reporter Jim White claims Arsenal will pay a £5m loan fee for Soares but the Telegraph suggest the fee is actually below £1m, which makes more sense considering the player has just six months left on his contract.

Having the option to sign Soares for free in the summer makes sense as we can take a closer look at him over the next six months then sign him for nothing at the end of the season if things work out well for all parties.

The 28-year-old has been a solid player for Southampton since joining them from Sporting Lisbon in 2015 while he has 33 caps for Portugal and was part of the squad that won Euro 2016.

I didn’t really see another right-back as a priority given how well Ainsley Maitland-Niles has played during Hector Bellerin’s absence but Soares can also play at left-back so he’ll give Arteta a versatile option at the back.

Let’s see if this deal gets over the line but it looks increasingly likely that Arsenal will end the window with two news defenders on short terms deals. Mari and Soares will be decent additions and given Arsenal have limited money to spent in January, I guess it’s been a reasonably successful month.