Cedric Soares has yet to feature for Arsenal despite signing on loan in January but the club have already confirmed he will become a permanent player for the club on a ‘long-term’ deal, so how much will he cost?
It always seemed odd that Arsenal were paying a fee for a player they could sign for free just six months later. When it was then revealed the player was injured only to pick up another as he closed in on his debut, the transfer, admittedly, looked even more curious.
Leaving all that to the side for the minute, how much is this ‘free’ agent costing Arsenal?
Honestly, that’s hard to say.
There will no doubt be an agent fee involved, that’s for sure. Soares is represented by Kia Joorabchian who does nothing for free. In fact, he cost us £6m when we initially signed David Luiz, a player we paid less than £8m for in terms of a transfer fee.
Soares’s loan to Arsenal was even one his parent club couldn’t understand. It starts to make more sense, however, when you realise that Joorabchian is also Arsenal’s technical director Edu’s agent and good friends with Raul Sanllehi.
It’s more about who you know these days at Arsenal. Or, at least, that’s how it’s starting to look with the Old Boy’s Network taking back control from the Scouting Network which was slashed during the lockdown.
It cost the Gunners £1m to sign Soares on loan for six months. On top of that are his £65kpw wages. That brings the total to date to £2.365m.
At the time of the move, David Ornstein claimed it would cost £5m, so we can assume the remainder was money paid out in fees, although some of it could be tied into appearance bonuses that he won’t get because he’s yet to make one for Arsenal.
There will also be a signing on bonus for agreeing to join Arsenal on a permanent basis. Wait that is, we will probably have to wait to find out.
Soares should be available for selection after this weekend’s game against Sheffield United after suffering a broken nose in training.