Arsenal man ‘very unlikely’ to play for club again as Arteta is tipped to ‘cash in and make tidy profit’
According to reports, Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares is “very unlikely” to play for the club again as they are set to “cash in and make a tidy profit”.
The Gunners signed Tavares in 2021 from Benfica for a fee in the region of £8m.
He was initially expected to be behind Kieran Tierney in the pecking order, but the Scotsman’s injury woes meant Tavares got a lot of game time.
Tavares’ defensive frailties were exposed at times last season and he was the subject of heavy criticism from fans and pundits. Jamie Carragher even argued that Arsenal would have finished fourth if they had a better left-back.
The 23-year-old has been on loan at Marseille. He has been operated further forward this term and this has benefitted him. Though he has still made a “stupid” mistake here and there.
Ben Jacobs is reporting that Tavares is “very unlikely” to feature for Arsenal again.
“With Tavares, I think it’s very unlikely that he’ll play for Arsenal again,” Jacobs told TEAMtalk. “That’s just a positional kind of thing.
“Zinchenko, Tierney, at the moment, is still there, Tomiyasu there, as well.
“And the thing with Tavares is that Arsenal can probably, if not definitely get a profit off him because he’s only 23 years of age and the fee that Arsenal paid in 2021 for Tavares was only £8m.
“That means that if they do choose to sell him, they’ll be able to cash in and make a tidy profit, which will reflect well on their books, on Financial Fair Play and provide an opportunity to clear some squad space in order to no doubt bolster in other positions.”
Jacobs also reveals that Arsenal and Marseille are both “concerned” about Tavares’ “defensive qualities”.
“When I look at Tavares, I don’t really see him as an Arsenal left back,” Jacobs added. “What’s interesting about the Marseille spell at the moment, where he’s on loan, is that he’s scoring goals.
“Arsenal’s concern, in my view, is around those defensive qualities, whereas what he’s showing at Marseille is that he can be very enterprising from an attacking point of view.”
Jacobs continued: “Marseille understand what he can bring from an attacking point of view. But they themselves are worried about the defensive output as well.
“So my feeling is that Tavares will go but it’s not guaranteed that Marseille will come in and want to try and make that signing a permanent one, even though he’s basically got a goal in every three or four games that he’s played.”
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