23 January 2024 , 16:07
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Mikel Arteta is now willing to let Nuno Tavares leave Arsenal permanently as the full-back struggles for minutes while on loan at Nottingham Forest.
The young Portuguese defender was signed by the Gunners in the summer of 2021 for a fee of £8million and while expectations upon his arrival were not exactly sky-high given he was an unknown quantity, Tavares has undeniably underwhelmed. On two occasions during his debut campaign, he was hooked either before or at half-time due to poor performances.
Last season, the former Benfica man spent the entire campaign on loan with Ligue 1 giants Marseille and though his form was patchy, he clearly did enough to impress those at the top of the club's hierarchy. However, at the time Arsenal were not interested in parting ways with Tavares permanently, much to his frustration.
Just months into his loan move to Marseille, Tavares openly questioned Arsenal's reluctance to insert an option to buy clause into his deal. "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," the defender told RMC Sport back in October of 2022.
"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."
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Unfortunately for Tavares, Marseille weren't able to fashion a permanent transfer in the summer, while game time was still limited at Arsenal with the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu above him in the pecking order. As a result, he upped sticks to the City Ground on a season-long loan and joined Forest.
However, he has failed to revive his career in English football, making just four Premier League appearances so far this term. That hasn't deterred Marseille from reigniting their interest, amid reports that the French outfit are plotting a bid for the left-back.
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Nuno Tavares is the subject of interest from Marseille (Ritchie Sumpter/NFFC via Getty Images)Any transfer is complicated by the fact that there is no recall clause inserted into his Forest contract, meaning he is tied to the City Ground until June. Marseille want Tavares before the end of the window, but that looks unlikely.
What is different between last summer and the current window is Arsenal are now more than willing to part ways with the defender permanently. It has long been rumoured that Arteta and Tavares didn't see eye to eye and the Gunners' willingness to cash in supports that theory.