Your Arsenal transfer round-up on Friday, November 18.
Cristiano Ronaldo drops major transfer hint
Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that he would be 'happy' if Arsenal won the Premier League title this season, should Manchester United fail to do so.
In the second part of the interview on TalkTV with Piers Morgan that streamed last night, Ronaldo discusses the Gunners further as their chances of lifting their first Premier League title since 2004 was discussed.
Asked if he would like to see Arsenal lift the title, he confessed: “I hope so” before quickly adding: “Manchester first, and if not, Arsenal is some team that I like to see play.”
On Arsenal, he added: “I like the team. I like the coach. I think they have a good team. And if Manchester United don’t win the Premier League, I will be happy if Arsenal do.”
READ MORE: Mudryk up top, Ndicka in defence: Arsenal's dream line up come January after £107m Edu spree
Three clubs keen on defender
Arsenal defender Cedric Soares is attracting interest from Fulham, Villarreal and Bayer Leverkusen, football.london understands. The trio all showed an interest in signing the Portugal defender over the summer, but following a positive end to the season, he opted to stay in north London.
Since then though the 31-year-old has found it difficult to get game time. He has played just 119 minutes all season amid stiff competition from Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ben White, who has shifted out from centre-back to right-back.
With this in mind, all three teams have again shown interest in signing Cedric when the January transfer window opens in six weeks time and football.london understands that they have reached out to the player's agent in the hope of agreeing a move.
Cedric is still thought to be a valued member of Mikel Arteta's squad due to his experience and professionalism and has been training Arsenal's under-15s team at points this season as he seeks to achieve his coaching badges.
It is possible that he would have played more minutes across the Europa League group stages if a series of small injuries had not forced him to miss crucial matches early in the campaign.
Edu rivals Spurs to Jose Mourinho star
The list of Arsenal targets out of contract in 2023 seems to get bigger each day the January transfer window looms closer. Marcus Thuram and Youri Tielemans are the two names that come to mind, while Nicolo Zaniolo, who is also an Arsenal target, has a contract until 2024 with Roma.
A Premier League move, particularly because of links in the last 12 months, seems on the cards for Zaniolo, with Tottenham holding a long-term interest in the creative forward.
Sky Italia reported that Antonio Conte dreams of using Zaniolo alongside Harry Kane, and another report in the summer, this time from Corriere dello Sport, revealed that Zaniolo even had his bags packed, ready to make the move to Spurs.
Arsenal have now joined their north London rivals in the race for Zaniolo, however, with Ciro Venetaro claiming that Arsenal are monitoring the attacking midfielder.
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