Cedric Soares did not have the season he perhaps hoped for at St Mary's, but how much of that was down to his relationship with the manager and will a new man at the helm persuade him to stay.

Cedric Soares had a difficult start to his Saints career, initially he struggled to adapt to the pace, but within a month or so he was putting in some great performances for the the team and his bravery was never in question with several head injuries to his name spilling claret all over his shirt.

But just as he looked to be turning into the player that we suspected he could be, he was strangely axed by Ronald Koeman, it was nothing to do with his performances as when he was restored to the team, he put in some great displays, but for some reason Cuco Martina was suddenly preferred by Ronald Koeman.

In fairness to Martina he did put in a few good displays at the tail end of the season, but to be blunt he was nowhere near the class of Soars and lacked the Portuguese left backs ability to get forward and then cross with accuracy.

This all suggested that Soares absence from the starting line up had less to do with his form and ability and more to do with some friction with Ronald Koeman.

So it looked likely that Soares and Saints would part company this summer, that was until Ronald Koeman suddenly found that every man has his price and left for Everton.

This coincided with Soares star suddenly rising at International level and he along with fellow Saint José Fonte after being on the bench for the opening lacklustre games for Portugal have suddenly been in the starting line up and look like playing in the final of Euro 2016.

This leaves Saints in a strong position, ideally they would like Soares to return to St Mary's and start with a clean slate with the new boss and you can bet your bottom dollar that Fonte is already encouraging him to do so.

But if that doesn't happen then Saints will no longer be cutting their losses as they might have been if Koeman had stayed, but will get top dollar for the right back.

But I'm sure those at the club would prefer Soares to stay, that might be the silver lining of Ronald Koeman leaving, there were players at the club that were not happy with his style of management and Soares was allegedly one of those.

He has proved his ability to Saints fans in a Portugal shirt this summer, now we all hope that he returns and proves Ronald Koeman wrong.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 10:54 - Jul 7 Wasn't there a similar headline saying Mane might stay because Koeman had gone? My guess is that, as per usual, "cash in" will be the order of the day on this one. He has played quite well at the Euros and the eyes of the bean counters will have been lighting up...
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BUCK added 11:17 - Jul 7 He won't leave.
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highfield49 added 12:00 - Jul 7 Really don't want any of the squad to leave at this stage. Stating the blindingly obvious, everyone who leaves needs to be replaced and time is running out. Mind you Nick, you appear to have Cedric switching to a left back role so maybe another right back should be a priority.
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Hatchback added 14:12 - Jul 7 Bit of a shame that he has just raised his profile so much in the Euros. He is a far better right back than the others RK tried in that slot, so I guess they must have had a falling out. I hope he stays as we already need a CB, Striker (when Pelle leaves) and a GK back up, at the very least IMO.
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aceofthebase added 14:34 - Jul 7 Give it a break Nick. Soares was dropped because he could not defend for toffees (hope he goes there!). He was constantly outpaced when chasing back to defend and rarely prevented a cross coming over. Defenders must defend and even in this wonderful run by Portugal surely you can see he is no defender. Soares as an attacker is a different animal, he is tricky makes good runs and puts over some great crosses. So I will be more than happy to see Martina continue as the no. 1 right back but happier still if we can find a replacement for both. Take the money for Soares and move on. Why hasn't anybody shown an interest in Classie? Pretty obvious really.

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SaintStu7 added 16:20 - Jul 7 Soares is good enough, hence he's a Portugese international. I'm not sure what some people want from players. Soares put in some good performances last season and given the chance will only improve. I agree that he is better going forward but he can work on his defending. Look at Kyle Walker, everyone was raving about him in the Euros until he had to do some defending and he showed his weaknesses. Soares is a better defender than Walker so I think his good enough for Saints,a little support will go a long way.

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Jesus_02 added 10:10 - Jul 8 @aceofthebase. Perhaps you have made a fair assessment. However I think he was dropped because while he was great going forward he wasn't that disciplined at the back. Selection seemed to more a case of "horses for courses" rather than preferring one player over the other, with neither being the complete package. Having said that, either could develop into better player my money would be on Cedric as he seems to have more technical ability coupled with an obvious desire to improve

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