‘Absolutely stupid’ – Arsenal loanee ‘lost his mind’ and will receive a ‘good fine’ after sending off

Jason Soutar
Arsenal loanee Nuno Tavares celebrates his goal

Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares will receive a “good fine” after his needless red card for Marseille during their win at Montpellier, says Igor Tudor.

Tavares is spending the season on loan with the Ligue 1 giants, following in the footsteps of William Saliba and Matteo Guendouzi.

The latter joined the Olympians last summer and the French club were able to sign him on a permanent basis for a measly £10million.

They were eager to keep hold of Saliba after an incredible loan stint in 2021-22, however, he returned to Arsenal and has been a mainstay in their team this term.

Tavares has enjoyed a strong start to the campaign with Marseille and has been contributing on the attacking end of the pitch remarkably well.

The 22-year-old scored in his first two appearances for Tudor’s side and has two in his last two.

However, he will miss at least one game after receiving a red card in his side’s 2-1 win at Montpellier on Monday evening.

Tavares opened the scoring early on in the second half, but went from hero to zero after a horrendous kick at Montpellier defender Arnaud Souquet.

It was completely needless with his side leading by two goals in the 85th minute and the red card was absolutely the correct decision.

Described as an “absolutely stupid” thing to do by the BT Sport commentator, Tavares is now out of Marseille’s Coupe de France match against Hyeres on Saturday and could also be suspended for the club’s next league match at Troyes.

As well as a suspension, the Portuguese left-back will receive a fine after ‘losing his mind’, Marseille boss Tudor confirmed.

“He lost his mind and will get a good fine,” Tudor said after the win against Montpellier.

“These are things that happen, of course. He will learn a lesson for the future.”

Arsenal fans are enjoying seeing Tavares thrive with Marseille and will hope he can show some more maturity between now and the end of the season in order to have a similar impact to Saliba when he returns to north London.

Having said that, the 22-year-old does not have as much potential as Saliba and is still very suspect defensively, so Arsenal fans might prefer the club to cash in on him while his stock is high.

Tavares joined the Gunners from Benfica for £7m in the summer of 2021 and endured a difficult maiden campaign in England.

He was often exposed defensively and was notably substituted in the first half of Arsenal’s FA Cup match at Nottingham Forest after a woeful opening 30 minutes.

The young defender is certainly very raw and has a long way to go, so it will be interesting to see what Mikel Arteta decides to do with him in the summer.

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