Arsenal Transfer Rumor: Fulham interested in Cedric Soares in January window

Fulham are interested in a January transfer window move for Arsenal right back Cedric Soares, per Sky Sports. The Portuguese right back has made just two Premier League appearances for the Gunners this season to go along with one in each of the Carabao Cup and Europa League. The Cottagers were linked with a move for Cedric towards the end of the summer window, but nothing came of it.

The move doesn’t make much sense to me. Fulham are two-deep at both outside back spots. They have Bobby Decordova-Reid and Kenny Tete on the right and Antonee Robinson and Layvin Kurzawa on the left. And it’s not as if Cedric is a meaningful upgrade over any of them. At best, he’s a marginal upgrade on Decordova-Reid and an improvement on the backups, but is that worth a transfer move for a 31-year old outside back with two years left on a contract that pays him twice what Decordova-Reid makes per week?

If you’re Cedric, do you want this move? Without the guarantee of playing time, I don’t think you do. And even if you think you’re going to play more, do you want that? It’s entirely possible you’re happy with your role making £75K per week on a team challenging for the title, being well-liked in the locker room, and playing sparingly. We assume that all players put playing time ahead of everything else, and that’s just not the case with some guys.

There are two factors that might explain the link. The first is our good ‘ole buddy Kia Joorabchian. The super agent / intermediary got Willian to Fulham over the summer and could engineer a move for his client Cedric, as well. The second is the Portuguese connection with Fulham manager Marco Silva.

My feeling is that the rumors are more people connecting those dots and recognizing that they’ll get clicks from Arsenal fans who want to rumor to be true more than anything else. It doesn’t seem like Mikel Arteta and Edu are desperate to get Cedric off the books nor have there been any reports about Cedric pushing for a move away. And as long as his appearance frequency stays at its current level, it doesn’t really matter to me whether Cedric stays or goes.