£75k-a-week Arsenal flop Mikel Arteta wants gone sees deadline day deal collapse

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Cedric Soares now looks set to stay at Arsenal.

Outcast full-back Cedric Soares now looks likely to remain at Arsenal until the end of the season.

Along with Mohamed Elneny, Mikel Arteta was desperate to get Cedric out of the club in the current January transfer window. 

The Portuguese defender is not in the Spanish coach’s plans, and hasn’t been for some time. Since the start of last season, the 32-year-old has only featured six times for the north London club across all competitions, and he has not seen a minute of action in the Premier League so far this time around, despite Jurrien Timber, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, and Oleksandr Zinchenko all having suffered with fitness issues of varying severity.

Cedric did look set to make a move to Turkey this month, as Besiktas showed an interest in securing his services. 

However, according to journalist Chris Wheatley, reporting on X, any prospect of the player making a move to Turkey this month has now collapsed and he will remain at the Emirates Stadium until the end of this season.

Arsenal must learn from Cedric Soares disaster

This summer, Cedric’s £75,000-per-week contract will expire and he will leave the north London outfit as a free agent. 

Although the Gunners signed him on a free transfer themselves, following an initial loan move from Southampton, in the summer of 2020, the move must be considered to something of a disaster. Cedric was never able to impress on a consistent basis and quickly fell down the pecking order at Arsenal.

Arsenal need to learn from this transfer market misstep, and hope that a late suitor for the 34-cap former Portugal international’s signature may yet come forward before the January transfer window officially slams shut. In truth, though, there is only a limited number of clubs who would be willing to take the player on at this time, especially given his current wages at Arsenal.