Reports claiming that Cedric Soares would like to leave Arsenal are false, football.london understands.
The 30-year-old has reportedly been the subject of interest from Premier League side Newcastle, while an article has also suggested that Porto are interested in bringing him back to Portugal and have submitted a bid of around £4 million for him.
However, sources close to the player have revealed that no offers have come in at the time of writing. Cedric has consistently been linked with a move away from north London, however football.london understands that he only wants to stay with the Gunners.
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The former Southampton right back was subject of interest from Atletico Madrid in the January transfer window as they looked to replace Kieran Trippier following his move to St. James' Park. However, he ended up staying with Arsenal following the January departures of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Calum Chambers.
Since then he has gone on to become a dependable part of Mikel Arteta's backline in the absence of Takehiro Tomiyasu, helping the Gunners into a promising position in the race for the top four. Cedric attracted particular praise from Arteta for his professionalism in coming and performing so well, despite having only started twice in the Premier League prior to January.
"It’s not a coincidence," the Spaniard said. "When you have the professionalism, the dedication, the habit and obviously the experience and ability that Cedric has and you never give up, good things happen to you. He’s been patient, he’s been keeping quiet and working hard and accepting the situation, and when he’s had the chance he’s done well."
With Tomiyasu's return from injury during Saturday's 3-1 win over Manchester United, Cedric now faces a battle to keep his starting spot. However, this is something that he has admitted he is prepared for. "I'm not afraid of competition," the EURO 2016 winner said. "If you look at my career, you can see the number of big names I had in front of me and sometimes I turned it around and sometimes I didn't.
"Now at Arsenal we have two or three options in every position. Normally, the team benefits from it. If you have two players fighting for one position, the level of improvement becomes higher for both. It's as simple as that. Me and Tomi are good friends. We try to help each other on the pitch. Before the game, I sometimes help him when I'm not playing. Sometimes he helps me.
"When he came, of course I knew he was going to have these opportunities [to start] - that's why he came in the first place! What's important is that me and Tomiyasu have a natural, positive relationship and we both want to help the team in every moment. He's a fantastic guy, he's young, so he has also a lot of room to keep improving. I'm there to help him and that's what I'm trying."
Despite constant speculation suggesting that he could leave to make way for a new right back, Cedric is now focused on trying to help Arsenal qualify for the Champions League. Instead it seems likely that Arsenal's focus will be on getting players out of that position in the summer, with Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles both likely to leave permanently when their respective loan spells at Real Betis and Roma come to an end. Arteta is thought to be happy with Cedric and Tomiyasu as options, while highly rated Hale Ender Brooke Norton-Cuffy is someone who has continued to impress during his loan spell at Lincoln City.
In terms of incomings it seems that the Gunners will be mainly concentrated on bringing in a striker to replace the outward bound Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah. football.london understands that Gabriel Jesus and Tammy Abraham are among the targets being considered. Edu is also thought to be looking at signing a midfielder this summer.
