Nottingham Forest have confirmed that Nuno Tavares will return to Arsenal this summer following the conclusion of his season-long loan spell.
Forest had an option to buy the 24-year-old left-back but after an underwhelming year at the City Ground in which the Portuguese featured just 12 times, it’s hardly surprising they are returning him to N5.
Tavares made three consecutive substitute appearances on his arrival in September but quickly fell out of favour with manager Steve Cooper.
He was back in the team when countryman Nuno Espirito Santo took over in the dugout but after another short-lived run of games at the turn of the year, he rarely made a matchday squad. In fact, he’s only played one minute of Premier League football since February.
Compared to his loan spell at Marseille, it’s been a very disappointing experience.
Out of contract at the Emirates next summer, it’s assumed Arsenal will try to find a new home for him in the coming months. It’ll be interesting to see how much of the £7.2 million fee we paid to Benfica is recouped.
In the last couple of days, two other defenders have confirmed their Arsenal exits.
Four years after signing a permanent contract, Cedric Soares becomes a free agent. Arriving during the pandemic at a point when Arsenal’s transfer business heavily relied on super agents, he was somewhat tarnished by his association with Kia Joorabchian.
All the same, he proved a popular member of the squad and never complained about his lot even though he was on the fringes of things for quite a while. Arsenal tried to offload him on a number of occasions but a loan spell at Fulham aside, we couldn’t find anyone willing to match his current wages. Those lessons will have been learnt.
Cedric had the following words for his teammates and the supporters: “What a Team and what a Club. When I say a team, I mean exactly that, quality in every player, the professionalism that you show and the amazing human beings you guys are, so thank you!
“When I say club I mean all the departments, all the staff that is constantly putting all the hard hours on and off the pitch to make it possible to fight at the highest level.
“When I say club it also means its heart and with this I mean you guys, THE FANS, that made this journey soo unreal and unforgettable.
“So to all the fans, I thank you! You will always have a special place in my heart! Arsenal ❤️ COYG!”
Elsewhere, youngster Reuell Walters also took to social media to bid his farewell. His message was short and sweet: “Thank you to everyone that’s made this part of my career special. It’s been a pleasure playing for this club and I wish you all the best for the future ❤️”
Best of luck to them both for the future.
I was going to come on here and be sarcastic about Cedric leaving, but ultimately he was a solid pro, not his fault he wasnt up to the new level as the team progressed or that he got picked to play ahead of some exciting youngsters.
All the best.
£75k saved on Cedrics salary plus £55k on Elneny’s.
Wish them good luck in the rest of their careers.
Per week…
Ramsdale is on 120k a week so if he goes then we’ll have 250k a week to spend on salaries. Add in the extra money earned from the CL and we are in a good financial position.
If Partey goes, that’ll be another £200k off the weekly wage bill.
As i’ve said before, Cedric and other’s were clearly bought to facilitate the removal of the more toxic elements of the squad and bring a new level of professionalism. Like David Luiz before him and to the dismay of some fan’s he’s clearly been very popular with his team mates. Not every signing has to be a super star or first team regular and Cedric has performed his purpose probably as Edu and Arteta wanted, a player to help with the transition. His departure will open up a space for a new player to help finally get us that 1… Read more »
I want to know how Arteta went from signing Cedric, Willian and Mari and renewing Auba & David Luiz to the absolute GOAT he now is in the transfer window.
Actually there have been some dodgy ones throughout.
Turner – Beautiful eyes. Terrible hands and feet.
Marquinhos – Joel Campbell without the motor skills.
Fabio Vieira – Beaten in an arm wrestle by Charlie Patino.
Lokonga – His soul still haunts Anfield. But apologetically.
Runarsson – The Ali Dia of goalkeeping.
Trusty – See Sheff Utd goals conceded 23/24.
But to be fair, whenever he’s gone big, he’s always smashed it.
Oh, and Tavares – the footballing equivalent of incontinence.
You’re an absolute savage Johnny
🤣🤣🤣🤣
“Fabio Vieira – Beaten in an arm wrestle by Charlie Patino.”
The imagery this evokes is pretty dire.
Brutal!
Vieira has a wand of a left boot though, the sort of footballing talent you often can’t teach. If Arteta can convince him to eat some beef and have some protein shakes whilst getting in the gym, he could possibly turn in to a very good player.
Forgot to say. Maybe he could also get some of those funny pills that Goretzka took to get massive.
Have you seen Ozil’s physique?
I wonder if he would have smashed it with Mudryk if that had happened, or was it just Chelsea that made him so bad,
I think we would have gotten way, way more out of Mudryk. He’s not dissimilar to Martinelli in possessing absolute raw talent but few refined attributes.
If you think of Martinelli when Arteta joined to Martinelli now, it’s amazing how much he’s grown as a player and as a character.
Mudryk is an unbelievable player, but he won’t get to show that at Chelsea. They already bought Estevao, the next big thing in Mudryk’s position.
Would be pretty funny if they sold Mudryk to us now for half of what they paid… and then he crushes them next season.
It took 6 months to re-programme Havertz but he did it!
I think he’s actually starting to come good now, so my bet would be that Arteta would’ve got more out of him, sooner.
Brilliant description of Turner.
All of those were low risk gambles and Lokonga could still turn into something if his loan at Lutron wasn’t some weird mirage. Fabio I think can be such a weapon if Mikel invests in platforming him better. His profile is a rare one: not just one but two world class golf clubs for feet. Fabio’s main issue though is we already have Odegaard who is too similar, too indestructible, too important. His other issue is that he’s not versatile enough. He has been tried wide in a similar capacity as Grealish for example but unlike Grealish ir Saka he… Read more »
Why renewing Auba was a problem?
I dunno. A 31 year old signing a three year deal for 300k a week. Seems a bit mad with hindsight.
And, given that we have such a youthful squad now, it does feel like an out of character thing to do from Arteta.
And he did live to regret it.
I think if it’s the right 31 year old it can work. You wouldn’t mind paying Thierry that money at 31, nor someone like Luka Modric. The problem is when that player also comes with a massive ego, was there before the current manager and thinks they’re bigger than both club and said manager. I think if Arteta had had the status he now has at the club and *then* signed a 28 year old Auba he might have inducted him into the “Arteta way” and PEA could’ve been a good boy and probably lengthened his career considerably. Alas that… Read more »
Agreed. The form he showed at Barca for six months and this season at Marseille (one of the league’s top scorers, joint most assists and top Europa League scorer) shows there’s a player who can produce into his 30s. I’m not saying that was ever going to happen with us post contract renewal, more that if his head is in the right place he can still perform at a level higher than most his age.
exactly, at the time we were all shitting ourselves at the prospect of auba leaving and were extremely relieved when our captain and star player signed a new contract. then he had a few bad months and a breakup with the manager and suddenly everyone turned their back on him. i find it very sad the way he’s spoken about nowadays by some arsenal “fans”…
I know this is about the extension, but to your point: as bad as it was, I shudder to think what 2019-2020 would have been like without him. He was out there scoring bangers left and right more or less on his own.
Jesus will be relieved to see an end to all those crosses.
underrated.
‘Compared to his loan spell at Marseille, it’s been a very disappointing experience, which was also a disappointing experience’.
Added a bit at the end !
If I remember correctly, he started off terrifically, but as is his wont made some stupid and costly errors which put him out of favour.
Tavares the surgeon :
The operation started well, I made the incision and started removing the gall bladder. However, I then thought maybe I should cut his hair and remove his tonsils simultaneously. It was during this multitask that I clipped a major artery and, unfortunately, we lost your father.
Savage
You certainly are in dick mode today, punching down at players that have been a part of the process however minor.
He scored a couple of screamers early on, which made people overlook his other failings for a short while…but once that stopped, he was figured out.
The worst, for me, was the penalty for United at the Emirates when the ball hit his outstretched arm while defending a free kick. Thankfully, Fernandes came to his rescue.
Although Cedric has become somewhat of a meme amongst Arsenal fans, the guy has done nothing wrong. Played to the best of his abilities on the pitch and supported the team in the dressing room and on the training grounds.
More sad about Walters, but it is another story.
And finally Nuno — I admit I really enjoy the guy and I wish a miracle happens and he finds his place in the Arsenal squad.
Cedric back in as celebration coach! We need some variation from the knee slides…
I guarantee when we win the league next year, Cedric will be in the team photo.
”You want to play in the Champions League?! Then fogging play like you want to play in the Champions League!!”
I never saw Cedric as a bad player per se, just not as good as the new level.
Decent player (Cedric) but we’re going to the next level now. Ok, not quite the 100m/350k a week bench warmers at City, but our bench should be filled with genuine contenders for a starting place.
If not, we will never finish above those cheaty twats (allegedly).
i partially agree with you. it seems arteta would play the same starting eleven every game if he could. pep, on the other hand, has the temerity to switch things up, which works as a motivating factor for the so-called bench players; a higher motivation than knowing you’re not going to play for the very predictable arteta. it’s also a reason city finishes seasons so strong; no one is ever knackered at the end because everyone gets a break.
No need for the ‘allegedly’, they really are a bunch of twats.
Massively important summer coming up. Time to shift tons of deadwood and to replace with quality.
We need to be fighting on 4 fronts next season. We missed out on the title this year: it’s a shame we don’t have an FA Cup Final to look forward to this weekend. We have to start winning trophies from now.
I’d love to see Isak up front for us next season.
We definitely need to win some silverware next season. Been too long without…
Supporters don’t always have the same perceptions as the players. When Granit Xhaka was the object of fan fury, he was clearly the team leader in the eyes of the players. We laugh at Cedric for joining every goal celebration, but maybe the players (especially the younger players) saw the enthusiasm and support of an experienced professional and European champion who was fully committed to their success.
But we already had El Neny in the supporting role, a tad costly I would say.
Rumor has it that Cedric was win the dog’s favorite.
some stats you might find interesting. for a measure, saliba has played 4444 minutes for us this season in 50 matches.
soares: across 4 seasons, he played 3860 minutes in 54 matches, 22 of them as a sub. scored 2 goals and made 5 assists.
elneny: across 8 seasons, he played 6696 minutes in 133 matches, 49 of them as a sub. scored 5 goals and made 9 assists.
Neither sounding like great value for money on those numbers.
We seriously need a better return policy.
Cedric and Elneny leaving should drop our average age without compromise. Maybe Partey will leave too, dropping it even further. I didn’t care much about being the youngest team until we became the youngest team, now I want that throne back
I’ve got nothing bad to say about Cedric.