Arsenal have promised to be ruthless this summer with their first-team squad, and several players are already expected to depart with plenty more on the chopping block.
Cedric Soares, however, is ready to stay and fight for his place.
The defender is currently on loan at Fulham, where he has managed to feature eight times in the Premier League, starting on two occasions for Marco Silva’s side.
Having failed to break into the Arsenal side, or find regular football with his new club across London, it was widely expected that he would be one of those to leave this summer.
However, with his contract not up until 2024, he has revealed that he is keen to remain in north London and try to win a place back in Mikel Arteta’s squad.
According to the London Evening Standard, the 31-year-old has ‘set his sights on returning to Arsenal and earning back his spot in the squad’, seeing out the final year of his £100,000 a week contract in the process.
But with Takehiro Tomiyasu frequently injured, there is space for Cedric, who was Mikel Arteta’s second-ever Arsenal signing, to stake a claim to a spot in the squad ahead of the new season.
However, it looks unlikely that he will stay beyond that, and will be even more so should another full-back be bought, with that leaving three players ahead of the Portuguese defender in Arteta’s plans.
