According to The Telegraph, Arsenal are interested in signing Southampton’s Cedric Soares this month with just a few days to go until the transfer deadline.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the Gunners are believed to be eyeing up the 33-cap Portugal international, who has just six months remaining on his contract at St Mary’s.

Cedric gave an interview to The Telegraph earlier this season revealing his intention to leave the club at the end of his deal, and the aforementioned report states that Southampton will listen to a lower offer as a result of the 28-year-old’s contract situation – a figure under £6m has been mentioned.

The former Sporting Lisbon defender has come under consideration from Mikel Arteta as Calum Chambers will miss the rest of the campaign, leaving Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles as the Gunners’ only options.

Would be back to square one if Kyle Walker-Peters arrives

If Southampton sanction a departure for Cedric, but managed to get the signing of 22-year-old Kyle Walker-Peters over the line – a deal is said to be close – then it would be back to square one for Ralph Hasenhuttl.

The former RB Leipzig boss promised that his side “will do something” about the full-back positions towards the end of December, so if they were to sign one, only to lose another, this would represent somewhat of a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ situation for the Saints.

It would leave only Walker-Peters – who has made just five appearances all season – and Yan Valery, who has been missing since November with an ongoing illness, as Hasenhuttl’s right-back options.

While you can see why Southampton would consider a sale in order to recoup a bit of cash on Cedric, it would also be counter-intuitive – why spend all month waiting to sign a new right-back, only to lose another straight away?

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Additionally, the Saints are flying right now having won five of their last seven Premier League games and are just three points off fifth-place – a European push could be on if they keep all hands on deck, rather than end January with the same amount of full-backs as they started the month with.

In other news, these Southampton fans were left fuming at this “embarrassing” & “disgraceful” news…