Cedric Soares is set to be offered a new deal at St Mary's when it looked like he would be leaving this summer after what appears to have been a falling out with the previous manager.

Cedric Soares just seemed to have not only established himself in the Saints first team last season, but also to have adjusted to the Premier League and was putting in some consistent performances, when all of a sudden he seemed to be dropped for no apparent reason wit Cuco Martina taking his place.

The only reason I can think of is that there was some sort of falling out with former Saints manager Ronald Koeman, it was certainly nothing to do with Soares's performances on the pitch where he was starting to look like yet another great buy for Saints.

Then all of a sudden he was ostracised from the team, in the final ten weeks of the season he played only two games, one can only assume that there was some problem between player and manager, although now we will perhaps never find out what that problem was and to what degree.

The end result though was as the season came to a close it looked like Soares would be leaving Saints in the summer, the whispers from the football club seemed to be suggesting that.

But then in June everything in Cedric Soares world suddenly changed, firstly Ronald Koeman departed from Southampton and then after initially being on the bench for Portugal in the early games alongside fellow Saint Jose Fonte, both were suddenly in the starting line up and ended up with a winners medal in Euro 2016.

Now the future is different for Cedric, perhaps he might still leave, certainly he has many admirers on the continent, including Barcelona if rumours are to be believed, but the hierarchy at St Mary's always believed in him and with Koeman gone and a new manager in Claude Puel in place, it seems that Soares could stay.

Saints seem ken to ensure that he does and although he still has three years left on his deal they are being reported as already opening up contract talks to tie him down for longer.

That is good news for Saints supporters, Soares is a good ball playing right back with the ability to get forward and to hit in some decisive crosses as his opta stats showed.

He has the ability to truly become the player at Saints that back in February we all thought he was starting to look like, before all of a sudden he was persona non grata with Koeman.

It is good to see that Saints are not only looking to bring in new players, but are looking to tie down those members of the squad deemed crucial to moving forward, that means that wewill hopefully rarely see the issues that we have encountered over the past two summers and indeed this one, with two many players having had their contracts run down and needing to be sold to realise their value.

There was never going to be an immediate fix for that, but now two years on we have dealt wit that problem and have a quality squad of players who can see the potential of the club and what it is doing.

Photo: Action Images

Dikki_Gutz added 12:38 - Jul 18 I agree entirely with what you say, the only thing that worries me is Les waving a contract under Cedric's nose when he already has 3 years to run. This could smack of a bit of desperation and would look like Les was worrying about everyone leaving constantly. I don't think this is the way forward. I think we might have more luck if we worked on trying to make the club more likeable generally ie perhaps appointing someone like MLT as a front man somewhere in the organisation as he is respected throughout the world. Perhaps then the Mail and suchlike might ease off and we might move up in the MOD order.

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IWOZTHERE added 12:40 - Jul 18 Unless it was a 'personal falling out' I could only put it down to a 'height issue',it was certainly strange. Having said that, he was prone to the odd defensive lapse so I disagree that leaving him out was unjustified. The strange thing was that Martina had the same failings yet seemed to cement his place in the side. I'll forgive him anything though after his goal against Arsenal!

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IWOZTHERE added 12:44 - Jul 18 Forgot to say that I DO think Cedric has lots of potential and we should ensure that we keep him.
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Sanguin added 12:51 - Jul 18 I don’t think this story really has legs. I’m still not convinced that with three years left on his contract they would be in any rush to renew it, unless he’s paid so little that they want to make him feel valued. But he’s not even back at the club after the Euros is he? It feels like a journalist has seen that he was frozen out, bought into the stories about him looking to move, seen him doing well at the Euros and has written something believable.

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pintsizedsaint added 13:58 - Jul 18 Sanguin, I'm with you on this. Seems a bit like 'dot to dot' journalism here. Bertrand and Tadic both had two years left and so it seems the strategy is to get them to commit (or not) now rather than start all that with just one year left (AKA learning from the Clyne/Wanyama deals). Its a win win in terms of securing the futures of those who you think are going to be pillars for the 5 year plan, but if they don't want to stay then we can move on for larger fees. Basically it can put a stop to the likes of Liverpool and Spurs trying to sniff out cheaper deals. However, VVD is an exception - clearly the club were worried that he may be tempted away so improved his deal (and length of stay). Is Soares the same thing? My gut instinct is no, but you never know. Ultimately, i think Soares is quality and so i would be chuffed if he put pen to paper now. Koeman reportedly didn't rate him that much defensively - although i thought that a bit harsh, particularly given it was his first season in the EPL and he had put in some really good performances. Koeman famously then preferred Yoshida at RB in certain games - and we all know what happened then! Perhaps the 'with hindsight' lesson was to show more faith in Soares - and less in Koeman?! Doesn't matter now i guess!

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aceofthebase added 14:19 - Jul 18 I hope we offer Martina at least as long a contract and perhaps more.
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Jesus_02 added 15:54 - Jul 18 Neither Martina or Soares cemented their place in a first 11, the problem was that when we sold Clyne we didn't have a backup option. This meant that neither had settled. This season will define who is first choice and who is cover. I expect Classie to settle more this season too
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SaintBrock added 17:37 - Jul 18 Cedric was excellent for Portugal in the latter stages of the European Championship but pundits seem to have labelled the whole tournament as of relatively poor quality. This should work in our favour as bigger clubs who may have admired his progress and solidity might still have question marks over his ability on a much bigger stage. Probably some clubs will keep a weather eye on him this season to see if he continues to progress in the league and importantly also in the Europa Cup (or whatever it is called these days) - is he one for our future? - no doubt if all goes well at which stage they'll be in for him next summer.

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A1079 added 22:09 - Jul 18 I think it is fanciful to believe that Soares would consider extending his contract unless offered some unique salary package and get out clause. In truth, he does not have to, and he at least will want to see how the new manager plays out both with him and the team and the season. In the unlikely outcome that he does extend I don't think anyway it means he will stay beyond this season or the next, because, as we have seen, when someone wants to go, Saints usually acquiesce in the end to the demand and the waving of a large sum of money from the buying club.

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SaintNick added 23:31 - Jul 18 Soares was dropped two games after a six game run without a goal conceded, wasnt many lapses in that run
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