Portuguese newspaper A Bola this week featured a nice interview with Cedric Soares about his time at Fulham.
Loaned by Arsenal, the fullback is staying with the Whites until the end of the season, and is glad at having made that choice.
His move to Fulham has a lot to do with Marco Silva, since they’ve previously worked together at Sporting.
Cedric claims that the manager had a big influence on his switch to Craven Cottage, and has been helping him a lot there.
“Of course yes. And a manager I already knew who wanted me to move here to Fulham. Then, in addition to speaking the same language, I know his work methods well, which would always be a positive factor when deciding. It helps the adaptation to be quite smooth,” Soares told A Bola.
It had been eight years since their time together with the Lions, and he says they both feel different now.
“As is to be expected, over the years of work we have always perfected a series of things. The mister is now a more mature person, with more experience and that helps him to manage the group in a different, more capable way. And the result is in sight. Fulham have been doing an excellent job and it’s clear that they have a good coach, with very clear ideas.”
The 31-year-old also claimed that specific players in Fulham’s squad have been helping him to settle well at the club. He also said he wanted to stay in London.
“I’ve been feeling pretty good. Of course it’s a change and that always brings different things and a need to adapt, but in that respect, having João here and others I’ve played with, like Willian, Bernd Leno or Harrison Reed, has helped. Then, this is a league that I know very well.
“All the factors were weighed in the balance and this was one of them, of course. Staying in the city turned out to be important as we don’t have to move the family back and forth for a matter of months. It was a good thing. But I wanted to stress that, for me, the most important thing was that the club and the coach were in tune with the desire to want me here. And they clearly showed it.”
Barely having any playing time for Arsenal this season, Soares now has seven appearances for Fulham so far. The loan expires in a few weeks, and for now, there’s no information on whether the Whites have any intention to make that transfer permanent. That subject was also not mentioned in the interview.
