Cedric Soares says he’s back to ‘full fitness’ as Arsenal fans wait for the loanee right-back to make his debut for the club.

Writing on Twitter, Cedric Soares said it “feels great to be back to full fitness”. Arsenal have been waiting for the right-back to be ready ever since his January loan move to the club from Southampton.

It was no secret that Soares would miss at least a few weeks when he signed. The initial timeline had the right-back out until late February, though his recovery ended up taking a bit longer than that.

In the meantime, Mikel Arteta resorted to using Sokratis Papastathopoulos at right-back, with Hector Bellerin also suffering from a minor injury. Arsenal fans will happily welcome an actual full-back into the team at this stage.

The next couple of months are essentially an audition for Soares. If he does well, Arsenal will make his loan move permanent. If he doesn’t, he’ll leave as a free agent. His contract with Southampton is up either way.

You’d think he’d have every incentive to perform as a result. If he has a couple of bad months he’ll significantly hurt his own chances of taking a step up from his old club – which was his intention.

Arteta also said he expects Soares to be available for the trip to Manchester on Wednesday. Whether he actually makes an appearance is another matter, but he’s clearly close.