We at the Ugly Inside would like to thank Cedric Soares for his contribution to Southampton Football Club and wish him well at Inter Milan at the end of the season.

Recent departures from St Mary's have been greeted too much by the phrase Good Riddance than Good Luck and Cedric's loan move to Inter Milan has seen it's fair share of negative comments.

The Portugese defender leaves on a loan deal to the end of the season with an option to buy for the Italian Club, it is being reported that Inter will pay £500 k up front as well as paying his wages and can then buy in the summer for an extra £10 million or so.

Given that Cedric is in the last 18 months of his contract this is a reasonable enough figure given that his reported value of £13.5 million will shorten in the last year of his contract.

Cedric has had some criticism both this season and last, yes at times he hasn't played well but then again nor have those around him in a defence that has not been settled in 2 1/2 seasons since his Portugese team mate Jose Fonte decided to concentrate on money and not football.

But it should be remembered that Cedric played a major part in his first season at the club although he did fall out with Ronald Koeman in the last month of the season, the following year he was first choice and not only played a big part in a team that although will not be remembered fondly still finished 8th. In that season he also played in the League Cup Final at Wembley.

Last season he was a regular when fit but often found himself exposed and the fans started to get on his back.

This season has seen him vilified by some but he has played most of the Premier League games including a scorcher of a goal against Manchester United and some decent performances both before and after the arrival of Ralph Hasenhuttl.

So he leaves the club after 3 1/2 seasons having started 101 Premier League games for the club plus another 3 as sub, on top of that he made another 14 starts and a sub appearance in the three cup competitions we contested in his time here, playing for the club 119 times.

During that time he was in the main a consistent player and his performances usually mirrored that of his team mates around him, he was no worse in the bad times than anyone else.

In truth you don't play that many times for a Premier League club without having something about you, he saw some good times and he saw some bad, but he always tried his hardest and deserves to move on to the next stage of his career
with the best wishes of the Southampton supporters.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 11:11 - Jan 28 I think most fans will echo the good luck sentiment - was he really 'villified' though? It is certainly true that Cedric (and Long and even Bertrand and Romeu possibly) suffered once we went into the Les Reed decline. It is harder in a 17th team than a 6th one. Full-backs don't actually have to be giants - they need good CBs to cut out most of the crosses. Perhaps Cedric was making more mistakes or maybe we just started to notice them. Either way I for one am glad to have watched him play for us and wish him well. And his goals may have been few and far between but they were memorable!

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SaintBrock added 13:48 - Jan 28 Yet another major blunder by our sales team. The Hut on legs is not painting a very good picture.
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KriSaint added 13:58 - Jan 28 I am ambivalent about this. I thought he did quite well as a wing-back in a 3-5-2 formation. That said, too many of his crosses did not find their target and he struggled in tackles and header duels. Good luck to the man. If he comes back, that´s ok from my point of view.
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A1079 added 17:24 - Jan 28 I am struggling to understand the point of this loan other than to save some wages. For us, he was a good buy and as he was not that expensive we have got some good return from him. I am one that does think he has been off his game a bit for a while, but how much that has been down to the managers and some of the other players around him I am not sure. He has not delivered really this season and I got the impression he did not really want to be at our club after the world cup. That said, had this been a sale, then fair enough - and I realise it probably will end up being that way, but right now, as a loan, not really getting it. Regarding the comment on him being vilified. I cannot say I have seen or heard that. Some criticism on his performances but no more than some of the others and I wouldn't say it has been vitriolic at any stage. I think he will do well at Inter and good luck to him. I have no reason not to wish him well for the future.

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