Young Arsenal defender Daniel Ballard is set to join Burnley on a permanent deal, according to reports this afternoon.
🚨 Exclusive: Burnley in advanced talks to sign Daniel Ballard from Arsenal on a permanent transfer.#AFC intend to insert a clause into the deal which would grant them the opportunity to match future bids from prospective buyers.@TheAthleticUKhttps://t.co/CtspeH6pp7
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) June 23, 2022
The highly-rated Northern Ireland international has impressed during loan spells with Blackpool and Millwall, and has attracted the attention of new Clarets’ boss Vincent Kompany.
The financial details of the deal are not yet available, but there believed to be a number of performance based clauses included, as well as an option for Arsenal to match any future bids for the player.
Meanwhile, according to Foot Mercato, Marseille are weighing up a move for Nuno Tavares who could be available on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
Signed for £7.5 million from Benfica last summer, Tavares made 27 appearances for the Gunners in his debut season providing backup to left-back Kieran Tierney who again struggled with injury issues.
While the Portugal under-21 international showed potential as an attacking outlet, he struggled to win over manager Mikel Arteta who is already on the lookout for alternatives. Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez, a left-sided centre-back with experience playing at full-back, has already been the subject of an approach.
For his part, Tavares has already been linked with Atalanta this summer although the Serie A side’s head of recruitment, Lee Congerton, a known fan of the player, has played down the story saying “it’s really difficult to sign players from Premier League clubs”.
Marseille signed Sead Kolasinac as an option at left-back in January but the Bosnian has been far from convincing, and it may be a case he is replaced by someone who was, briefly, a former teammate.
Hey Marseille, how about a Nicolas Pepe with that Tavares to really shake things up?
I find it very disappointing we are willing to give up on Nuno so easily. This was effectively his first full season as a pro. And, for me he showed some real natural talent – physical traits that you cannot teach and are perfect for the premier league. The mental side and positioning can all be ironed out with experience. I would be gutted to see him get frozen out and sold on like this. Likely for peanuts as well as we saw with Mavropanos. Another concern is if we sign Martinez as a lb, with Tomi on the other… Read more »
I agree about Nuno, and hope he sticks around to gain experience in Europe, the cups, etc. Not only do I think he has huge potential, were he to leave I’d really also just miss the flat-out bonkers element of chaos he introduces into the game. If only we could channel that… 🙂
Marseille are in the Champions League so Nuno is going to get better experience there than Thursday nights with us.
Marseille won’t be in the Champions League long if he’s in the side.
a loan for Nuno makes sense to me
Selling Nuno makes sense to me – or loaning him out, whatever.
As long as he’s away from our team sheet.
Are we giving up on him though?
from what it sounds like other people are making bids and we are trying to price them out of it. Atalanta were quoted something like 40m euros
Tomi’s actually much better going forward than people remember I think. Everyone’s judgement on this seems a bit clouded by his early games with us when he was very much our defensive full-back while Tierney/Nuno bombed forward. Or simply the fact he just doesn’t strike you as a conventional attacking full back in terms of his physicality. But he started to really show a strong attacking side to his game in the couple months leading up to his injuries. Not to mention being one of the most technically assured players in the whole squad. What a miss he was for… Read more »
I get what you’re saying in that I think Tomi’s defensive skills are so good that his attacking skills seem weak in comparison while actually being decent, but I wouldn’t say he’s the kind of player you get excited to see bombing down the flank in the way that Tavares or Tierney would. You can argue that his attacking instincts were inhibited by being asked to play the defensive role of the two fullback positions, but were he to play alongside Martinez I don’t see him offering much of what might be termed as “dynamism”. That said, it could be… Read more »
I understand people want to stay positive but….a) it’s not necessarily the case that poor positioning can be ironed out of someone’s game if it is THAT bad (there’s a difference between making mistakes & just not knowing what you are doing at all) & b) yes, some very good physical traits….but his passing, shooting, crossing & decision making (in an attacking sense too, not just defensively) have been just terrible.
I just think the kid is miles out of his depth at this level.
They’re not all going to make it. Sometimes it’s best to make that call earlier.
We needed a better player ‘right now’ and Arteta wants that left footed centre back as a second option so I see the sense – Martinez’s passing is next level – he can play in midfield…. Seems like an upgrade when we need it. Balances us out.
I’d love it!
Marseille can be incubator for Nuno just like it did with Billy Saliba. We can grab Nuno back when he flourishes with his loan spell. Marseille also did a good thing to Guendouzi last season.
I’ll tell what’s not good enough.
Nuno Tavares.
Martinez playing left back seems like a great idea.
Full backs that bomb up and down the pitch are antiquated and make no sense. It’s much more efficient and effective if you have a full back that can step into midfield and cover for a 8 that can go from in to out and offer the same over lapping runs your full back would.
That way you keep your attacking players in attacking positions and your defensive players aren’t the wrong side of the ball if there’s a counter.
I fully agree with you on Nuno. I think we should keep him around. He might be the weak link at the back, but I think he offers much more in that position than any left-sided centre back, Xhaka or one of our right full-backs playing out of position. Especially with Tierney being so injury-prone. He has potential for improvement, and age is most definitely on his side.
Actually the mental side of the game is the hardest and what separates great from good. You just can’t teach decision making and composure. A coach can show you how to pass a ball and how to defend. But he can’t teach you which pass to make while in a game.
Tavares is another Mustafi – an accident waiting to happen – period.
We cannot afford any more idiots haemorrhaging precious Premiership points with their stupidity.
Tavares just isn’t good enough and the sooner we’re rid of him, the better.
Ditto Cedric.
Exactly, physical traits are over indexed in football, thats why so many precocious youngsters never develop into top players. England has a long history of promotion these types of player into the full squad only to find them fall to the wayside before they reach 25. Jude Bellingham looks to be the latest player thats likely to fall into that category. Intelligence is what makes a top player and team, which is why i’m surprised Wenger has suggested kick-ons to replace throw-ons. It’ll basically turn every kick-on into an opportunity to get the ball in the box, so teams will… Read more »
Hope Arsenal don’t do another Mavropanos with Tavares
The thing with Mavropanos is that young centre halves need playing time and therefore he was always going to need a lot of loans to work out how good he was capable of being. Clearly we’ve done a bad job in terms of getting his market value but it’s one of the few cases where the strategy wasn’t the wrong one. With Nuno it’s pretty likely one loan spell will make or break him. If he joins Marseille we’ll either be talking about someone in a year that we’re very keen to keep or looking at another player that’s going… Read more »
Theyre just about to do a Mavropanos with Ballard
Marseille always looking for loan deals off us if he does go i imagine we are deffo in for martinez..
That’s the beauty of signings like Nuno with low fees. It shouldn’t be that hard to move him on. Inflated PL wages make it difficult but even if we take a hit it will be minimal. Will Marseille take Pepe and Holding, we’ll throw in Xhaka too!
This would be a good deal for all parties, there is a player in there if someone can get the best out of him, I feel that he needs a fresh start in a new league to rebuild his confidence.
After one season ? I agree there’s a player in there & hoped the coaching would bring him on rather than cast him out !
Could he work out for us? Absolutely, but for me he looks like his heads dropped a bit, every time he makes a mistake, the crowd get on his back which makes him more nervous, which leads to more mistakes, its a hard cycle to break which is why I think a run of games without that pressure could do him the world of good.
The big question is will Tierney be fully fit for the new season. Palace game is in 6 weeks tomorrow.
The timing of the world cup makes it even more difficult with players will not want to jeopardize their participation and hence I am very sure he will be FULLY fit by atleast end of August. I also hope Mikel doesn’t rush him back if we fail to sign any cover!
Tavares has talent, but I’m not sure he has what it takes to make it at Arsenal. He’s still young, and there’s time for him to have a break-out season, but nothing I’ve seen suggests he’s got it in him to really push Tierney for his spot, barring physical issues. For me, I’d loan him out to Marseille and buy Lisandro Martinez anyway. If Tavares has a great loan then there’ll be a decision to make next year, but it’s a good problem to have, and we can look to move one of our three LBs on for a good… Read more »
Surprised no Italian team or Athletico Madrid-type team has gone for Pepe. I think he will thrive with more space and will score at least 10-15 goals in both those leagues.
Sevilla were rumoured to be after him but that trail seems to have gone cold, probably due to the wages his on
Marseille….help yourselves.
I’ll pay his cab fare to the airport.