Defender frustrated after Arsenal ‘refused’ to include buy option in loan deal – ‘we always wanted this’
Nuno Tavares has revealed that he “wanted” there to be a buy option in his loan deal to Marseille but his parent club Arsenal “refused”.
The defender made the move to the Gunners last summer from Portuguese side Benfica.
He was not expected to play much during his debut season but he featured heavily as a result of Kieran Tierney struggling with injuries.
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Tavares was heavily criticised last term as he put in a string of poor performances.
Arsenal narrowly missed out on a top four place last season and Jamie Carragher suggested that this was down to Tavares:
“Nuno Tavares has gone out on loan, I saw. I think if they had a better left-back, then you probably would be in the top four now,” Carragher claimed.
“I don’t like singling one player out, but I just think he cost you in certain games.
“I remember that game at Crystal Palace last season, it was on Monday Night Football and I said on TV: ‘He has to come off at half-time’. I think he [Mikel Arteta] put Granit Xhaka at left-back in the end.”
Oleksandr Zinchenko is Arsenal’s new first-choice left-back and Tavares has left to join Marseille on a season-long loan.
The Gunners hope that Tavares will come back a better player as a buy option was not included in Marseille’s deal for the 22-year-old.
Tavares has started all six of Marseille’s games in Ligue 1 this term and he has scored three goals.
He has now made it clear that he “wanted” Marseille to have the option to make his deal permanent next summer but Arsenal were not so keen:
“At Arsenal, I do not know if it was a problem of competition with Kieran Tierney, but for me that’s not even the point,” Tavares told RMC Sport.
“I came to Marseille to finally be able to play in my position. When signing with OM, I wanted to have an option to buy, but Arsenal refused. With my agents, we always wanted this purchase option, but Arsenal didn’t.
“Now I’m at OM, and with or without an option, I’m happy. At Arsenal, I would have probably only played in the cup.
“I came to Marseille to play in my position, in the Champions League, in the league and in the cup [competition]. Marseille gave me this opportunity.”