Arsenal look to be back on track following their fifth Premier League win on the bounce away to Burnley.
Mikel Arteta has guided his side out of their festive period slump and right back into this season's title race courtesy of a frontline who now seem well and truly back to their best.
The club have found themselves in this position after a few years of generally clever and successful signings, with the likes of Martin Odegaard, Ben White, and Declan Rice having been solid additions.
However, while the North Londoners have been effective in recent transfer windows, there is one player who joined for free in 2020 who really should've been moved on by now.
An underwhelming loan move
In January 2020, Arteta needed cover at right-back following injuries to Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers, so instead of spending more than the club would've liked on a pricey permanent deal, he opted to sign Cedric Soares on a six-month loan deal.
The Southampton full-back had been a reliable Premier League defender for a few seasons at that point, and with his contract set to expire in the summer, it made perfect sense to bring him in as cover.
However, in a situation reminiscent of the loan move for Swedish international Kim Kallstrom in 2014, Soares arrived at Arsenal with a knee injury and remained out of action for 41 days, missing 11 games in that period.
He ultimately made his debut for the team in the 32nd game of the season, although he would make just four more appearances for the remainder of the campaign and play a grand total of 250 minutes.
Arsenal decided to sign him on a permanent deal upon the expiration of his loan, anyway, and handed him a four-year contract.
So, was it a value-for-money move?
How much Soares has cost Arsenal
Well, for the 21 weeks that he spent on loan with Arsenal in the second half of the 2019/20 season, he was reportedly on a wage of £65,000-a-week, which would've been paid by the Gunners at a cost of around £1.3m.
Upon signing for the club officially in July 2020, his pay increased to £75,000-a-week, which, when taking into account the 21 weeks he spent on loan at Fulham last season – who paid his wages – means that the Gunners have paid out an additional £13.8m in wages since Soares became a permanent figure.
Per Week
Number of Weeks
Bonus
Total
£65k
21
N/A
£1.3m
£75k
52
£1.3m
£5.2m
£75k
52
£1.3m
£5.2m
£75k
31
£1.3m
£3.6m
£75k
52
£1.3m
£5.2m
£20.5m
However, that's just his wages and Capology has also reported that the former Portuguese international earns another £1.3m a year in bonuses.
Therefore, if you exclude half of his bonus from last season for the time he spent at Craven Cottage and refrain from adding his final bonus for this year, Arsenal have spent around a whopping £17m on Cedric since he joined.
However, once his contract is completed, with his final bonus and 19 weeks of wages paid, he will have cost the Gunners around £20m, and while he has not been dreadful, it would be hard to argue that he's been anything like value for money either.
Now
By the end of his contract
£270k
£317k
£4144
£4875
£8.5m
£10m
£3.4m
£4m
£2.4m
£2.8m
In total, Soares has made just 63 appearances for Arsenal during his four years at the club, which equates to about £270k a game, and unless he plays again before his deal expires in the summer, he'll leave N5 having cost the club about £317k for each appearance, which, for a defender who "scared the life out of" club legend Tony Adams with his performance against Manchester United in 2022, is hardly a great deal.
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ByJack Salveson Holmes
Ultimately, the "forgotten" full-back, as described by journalist Paul Brown, will not make it into the list of the ten worst signings in Arsenal history – he'd have to do something spectacular for that – but for the money the Gunners spent over the four years, it is hard to say he's been anything other than disappointing.
