Ralph Hasenhuttl has addressed Cedric Soares' potential move to Arsenal ahead of transfer deadline day on Friday (January 31).
The 28-year-old is out of contract in the summer and would be available to the Gunners on a loan move initially with a fee of £1million. This will give Mikel Arteta the chance to assess Cedric before he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.
Having signed the left-footed centre-back Pablo Mari, the north London side are looking to bring more balance to their defence by bringing in a natural backup for Hector Bellerin.
In his pre-match press conference ahead of the Saints' Premier League trip to Liverpool, Hasenhuttl all but confirmed the Portuguese's departure.
"From our side yes," the Austrian said when asked if the arrival of Kyle Walker-Peters has opened the door for Cedric to leave in the press conference live stream.
"The fact is that he's out of contract in the summer. He is injured at the moment so it will take three or four weeks until he can play again.
"We had a good meeting two days ago. We didn't speak about that. I was very positive with his development of his game in our shape, I could also imagine going longer with him but sometimes things change quickly in football."
Cedric's injury was picked up during Southampton's 2-0 away win at Crystal Palace on January 21 when he challenged Jairo Riedewald and injured his knee ligaments.
Unavailable to Southampton, the right-back wouldn't be urgently needed by Arsenal. Bellerin has returned to captain the side and if he needs a rest, Ainsley Maitland-Niles can deputise him well enough as an inverted full-back.
The 28-year-old's contractual and physical situations have no doubt had an impact on the Saints' decision over his future, however.
"For the club and for him it's best and we say 'Okay, if you want to leave, you only have two or three months on your contract and it's better to go and we are concentrating on developing other players.
"This is our way, this is our philosophy. We went this way for more than a year and see young players developing well. We have a few bright diamonds in our youth and we will have a lot of fun with them in the future and Kyle Walker-Peters can be one of them."
