Arsenal have confirmed the transfer of talented left-back Nuno Tavares to Olympique Marseille on a season-long loan. The Portuguese is the fifth departure from the club this summer as more exits are expected to happen before the transfer window closes on September 1.
The Gunners are still looking to add some reinforcements to their squad before the window ends. But before they sign anyone, the board is looking to finalise exits from the squad and one such player was Nuno Tavares. Deemed surplus to Mikel Arteta’s requirements for the 2022-23 season, the Portuguese full-back moved to Ligue 1 on loan.
The North London side had already confirmed four departures from the club so far. Konstantinos Mavrapanos and Matteo Guendouzi have left for VfB Stuttgart and Marseille respectively, on permanent deals. Striker Alexandre Lacazette returned to Olympique Lyon on a free transfer. Loan exits include newcomer Auston Trusty who joined Birmingham City. Tavares is the latest name to be added to that list.
As reported by Metro, Marseille confirmed the loan signing of Nuno Tavares on Saturday afternoon. It is a dry loan deal, with no buy option included in the move. Last season, defender William Saliba was loaned off to the Ligue 1 club, where he showcased his potential playing under Jorge Sampaoli.
The French club were able to finalise the signing of the young defender after his deal with Atalanta collapsed. Tavares arrived at the Emirates from Benfica last summer, for a reported fee of around ยฃ7 million. The Portuguese Under-21 was an able back-up for Kieran Tierney.
๐ฝ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐ผ๐
๐ฌ ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐๐
โ๏ธ ยซ ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ยป #BienvenueSurMars ๐ก๐๐ป๐ผ ๐ง๐ฎ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฝ๐ธpic.twitter.com/QF8HtxdY8U— Olympique de Marseille ๐ฌ๐ง ๐บ๐ธ (@OM_English) July 30, 2022
The 22-year-old made 28 appearances across all competitions last season and had one goal and two assists (stats via transfermarkt) to his name. The left-back played 22 matches in the Premier League, starting 13 of them as he managed to get one goal and one assist. He joins former Gunners midfielder Guendouzi at the Ligue 1 club, who have appointed Igor Tudor as their new manager.
Arsenal signed Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City to compete with Tierney for the left-back position. That is why they were looking for options to let the Portuguese leave on loan. The Londoners are expected to announce more exits in this window, with reports suggesting that Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Hector Bellerin will soon depart.
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Leno is reportedly very close to joining Fulham on a permanent deal. While Bellerin prefers a permanent move to Real Betis, he is being pursued by another Spanish side Villarreal. Although Torreira’s future seems uncertain, with Fiorentina refusing to match Arsenal’s demands for a permanent deal, his agent has reported a pre-contract agreement with Valencia.
Arsenal would hope that just like Saliba, Nuno Tavares is given sufficient game time by Olympique Marseille. This would help in his growth as a player, similar to the Frenchman’s case. If the Portuguese can take advantage of the opportunity, it would eventually benefit him as well as the North London club in the long run.
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