Cedric Soares thought the grass might be greener in Italy when he joined Inter Milan on loan, but it was merely the start of a six month nightmare that has ended with him being dropped by Portugal.

Up till his departure in January Cedric had played most of the games in the first half of the season, indeed he had played in all three of January's Premier League fixtures up till his move to Inter Milan.

He might have hoped that he was about to enter a golden phase of his career at the Italian giants as he signed up for a loan deal for the rest of the season followed by an option to join full time in the summer.

But it turned out that he was there just to provide cover and up till a week ago had not played a game of any kind in over two months and this was only his fourth appearance in Serie A in his almost four month stay.

This has culminating in a lack of game time meaning he has now been dropped from the Portugal squad for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League finals when at 27 he should be in the peak of his career.

He will thus return to a Saints side that now has Yann Valery firmly established in the right sided defensive position whether in a back four or as a wing back with a back three.

So with his country snubbing him and seemingly unwanted at either Inter Milan or indeed Saints in the space of a few months he has gone from a Premier League regular to being in a state of limbo.

The one ray of hope is that his old club Sporting Lisbon seemm keen to take him back and that will hopefully provide a solution for both Saints and Cedric himself.

The Portugese defender has given Saints good service since his arrival in the summer of 2015 and barring a short spell under Ronald Koeman has been pretty much first choice right back during the 3 1/2 seasons he was in the squad, starting 101 Premier League games plus another 3 as sub and another 18 appearances in cup competitions, including the EFL Cup final in 2017 when he became one of a very select band of Saints players who have played in a major cup final at Wembley.

Good luck to Cedric for the future, he has been a good servant to the club, some got on his back in the later stages, but he always put in 100% and has been good value for money.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 15:44 - May 24 I noted that Conte is going to manage Inter next season, and it might just be that he will find a place for Cedric (?) Different managers have different ideas, formations and I recall that it was Conte (in his days as manager of Italy) who first began to use Pelle with successful results. Much has been written about the huge changes between the Hughes teams and the Haselhuttl teams, although they both had the same players at their disposal. Cedric played his best games for us when Fonte was still CB alongside him, and although we may have seen the last of Cedric in a Saints shirt, he may not have played his last game for Inter....if Conte wants to use him in another formation /role.

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dirk_doone added 15:49 - May 24 I see Jose Fonte is in the Portugal squad for the Nations League Finals. He is closing in on his 40th international cap and could well add a Nations League winner's medal to his European Championship winner's medal. He was also voted the best central defender in the fans Ligue 1 Team of the Year and captained his Lille team to the runners-up spot and Champions League qualification, with the best defensive record in the league.

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SaintBrock added 15:07 - May 25 Wouldn't you have thought that Wolves might have considered talking Cedric Soares on-loan as their Portuguese manager seems to have signed hall the Portuguese national team?
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