Galatasaray end interest in Cedric Soares with move for Nottingham Forest ace
Galatasaray have agreed a deal to sign Nottingham Forest defender Serge Aurier, inadvertently ending their interest in Arsenal outcast Cedric Soares, Standard Sports reveals.
The Super Lig side were in talks to take the forgotten right back off Arsenal’s wage bill this month, but the Gunners will have to find other potential suitors.
The good news is Arsenal still have enough time to flog the 32-year-old defender as the Turkish Super Lig transfer window does not close until February 9.
Galatasaray weren’t the only Turkish side interested in Cedric. Besiktas and Trabzonspor have also been credited with an interest, so the Portuguese full-back could still depart the Emirates Stadium in the coming days.
To say Cedric has been sparingly utilised by Mikel Arteta this season would be saying the least.
The Portugal international has barely kicked a ball for the Gunners, racking up just 65 minutes of first-team football across the Champions League and EFL Cup.
Cedric hasn’t made a Premier League appearance thus far, and the bulk of his minutes have come from featuring for the youth side in the EFL trophy.
Arsenal would welcome the chance to finally get his reported £70,000-a-week contract off their wage bill as the club battles to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Arteta is not expected to welcome any new faces into the fold this month despite repeated links to attacking reinforcements like Ivan Toney and Karim Benzema.
Arsenal are already walking a tightrope with PSR and would need to sanction a number of sales before making any foray into the transfer market.
The club were hoping Cedric’s departure would open the floodgates, but Gala’s U-turn could scupper those plans.
Cedric’s existing deal with the Premier League title hopefuls runs out at the end of the season, but they’d have preferred to ship him off this month.
They may still get their wish but need an offer from at least one of the other Turkish clubs to come through or expedite his departure by terminating his contract.
