Fabrizio Romano reports that Nuno Tavares will join Lazio on loan for the season before signing for the Serie A side on a permanent deal next summer.
The Portuguese left-back has fallen way down the pecking order since moving to Arsenal from Benfica three years ago and has spent the last two seasons with Marseille and Nottingham Forest respectively.
It’s claimed that Arsenal have negotiated a deal worth up to €8 million – near enough what was paid for him – and that a sell-on clause has also been agreed.
🚨🔵 Arsenal have accepted Lazio final proposal to sign Nuno Tavares on loan with obligation to buy, fee around €7/8m.
Arsenal will also have sell-on clause.
Negotiations are ongoing with Tavares agents on personal terms. pic.twitter.com/h9HUPi9opG
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 10, 2024
If that’s true, it’s not a terrible bit of business given the player never really cut the mustard at the Emirates.
Edu and his backroom team have their work cut out trimming the fat off Mikel Arteta’s first team squad before the season begins.
As the end of this summer’s big international tournaments comes into view, it’s no surprise to see the rumour mill cranking up through the gears.
Fulham and Crystal Palace continue to be linked with Emile Smith Rowe, West Ham United are sniffing around Reiss Nelson and Leicester and (randomly/spuriously) Marseille are said to be keeping tabs on Eddie Nketiah.
Elsewhere, Jakub Kiwior remains of interest to various Italian sides, the Saudis are eyeing Thomas Partey and Sambi Lokonga is on the verge of joining Sevilla on loan.
It’s going to be a busy few weeks.
Clearly time to go, he’s got no chance at Arsenal anymore. Good player, but seems like more of a ‘continental’ player than someone who’ll flourish in England. Lazio seems like a great move so best of luck to him.
Arteta ended him as an Arsenal player against Notts Forest.
That was brutal. That was ruthless. That was Arteta in a nutshell.
Actually, Arteta in a nutshell would be “Fogging hell boys, this is a big nutshell. I may have to suffer in here. But it’s a beautiful opportunity.”
Marseilles is on the continent…and he didn’t flourish there. No big deal in the scheme of things & good luck to him..but 3 years on to be still saying he’s a good player seems mad to me given the evidence.
yep
Was actually pretty decent at Marseille by all accounts, scored 5 goals as a full back. To say he’s a talentless player would be equally silly, it’s just about finding the right team and coach who has the patience to teach him to have more self discipline.
He scored a few goals at the start for Marseille, other than that he was poor. It’s the same ‘right coach’ argument people have made for 2 years now….Arteta, 2 at Marseille, 2 at Forest…..all wrong ? Not talentless, but certainly not good.
“Arteta, 2 at Marseille, 2 at Forest, all wrong?” you just kind of answered your own question. THAT amount of coaches in what, 2 years? That’s not the sort of stability a young player needs to grow and flourish. By all accounts the first coach in Marseille liked him and believed in him, then the second came in within a few months and stuck him the doghouse. He needs to find another coach like the former and for a longer period, otherwise yes, he’ll probably end up staying “not good”.
One out of 5 liked him – great success rate that !
Look; it’s fair being positive & all that….but honestly, for anyone who has watched him, with all his blatant weaknesses, to still think that his lack of development is down to coaching…just astonishing to me
It’s never down to one thing. It’s always a function of the player himself, his talent, mentality, family & support system, coaching staff and the team around him. Maybe he simply doesn’t have the right mentality or can’t maintain it consistently, maybe he never had the right coach for long enough, maybe a combo of both. I’m usually more of a player development optimist and believe there’s almost always a coach out there who’s the right one for a particular player, maybe it’s just one of five or one of ten, but for me if you have talent and the… Read more »
Or maybe he’s just not that talented ? One really good skill (dribbling at speed) isn’t enough. He just has so many failings
Lol…we might as well not even get a fee for these folks…can’t even get the fee you paid for him when tiny clubs around are getting 40m for untested players ..a joke!
Best of luck nuno
If this transfer is anything like his positional play, he’ll land safely in Latvia shortly.
Don’t be so rough on the guy. Only top % of professional players make it to any big leagues let alone the prem and Arsenal. Nuno can have a great career even if he’s not good enough for this iteration of Arsenal.
You’re right. I’m sorry.
My comment was as tactless and ill thought out as a Nuno 30 yarder.
I think people forget just how high the level is at Arsenal and in the Premier League. Kolasinac just won the Europa as Atalanta’s first choice left back, Cedric is apparently off to Ajax and somebody like Tavares is comfortably good enough to start at some big clubs all across Europe
Yes, the level at Arsenal is insanely high. That said, it’s not immediately obvious or predictable who will thrive in another situation and who won’t. Kolasinac has made a nice career but Mustafi retired recently at 31 or 32, still prime years for a CB. Guendouzi is doing all right in Italy, but Rob Holding has barely had a kick since his transfer to Palace. Nico Pepe had to go to Trabzonspor to get games and isn’t exactly lighting the place up, but Lacazette has been one of the best strikers in France since he went back to Lyon. Go… Read more »
Marseille weren’t interested in signing him permanently & he couldn’t get a game at Notts Forest…so ‘comfortably good enough to start at some big clubs all across Europe’ is quite a statement to make.
Wow!!! I’m thrilled we got this deal on him. Amazing. Thank you Lazio!!
I really feel like with the rumoured Nelson interest and deals like this one that we are starting to get big club respect when it comes to shifting our fringe players.
If we finished 8th last season, I don’t believe we get any money for Tavares.
Hopefully. Eddie Nketiah will be the real benchmark on that for me.
I’m getting ‘suck it and see’ vibes from this deal – and I suspect we will see it in several others. A loan with an option that turns into an publication if certain conditions are met (games played will likely feature highly in such conditions). Nuno is a free agent in 12 months, so if Lazio like him they may play him and this will activate the obligation. Or maybe they like him and don’t play him so they just get him for free in 12 months. Or maybe they don’t like him and don’t play him so he leaves… Read more »
Marseille is now managed by Roberto DeZerbi, so the Eddie links there aren’t that spurious. They have taken on lots of Arsenal talent in the past as well, including Saliba, Nuno, Guendouzi, Aubameyang and Alexis Sanchez. It’s a well trodden path.
they’ve just spent £25m on Mason Greenwood so highly unlikely they will spend a similar amount on the player in the same position
Not the same position, but your’re right that that’s a lot of money for them and Eddie would cost more.
Absolutely disgraceful from Marseille btw. Everybody saw the photos and heard the audios, everybody knows why United are selling him, and that’s what they’ve decided to make their record signing.
People make mistakes, especially when they are young, and they can learn and grow from those terrible choices and behaviours to become a much better person. Rehabilitation, reform, regret — these words have to mean something. Forgiveness is essential to civilization. Nothing excuses his actions and no one needs to forget, and I am sure he never will, but life has to move on. Just my two cents, and of course I don’t want him at Arsenal. 😉
Well said
It’s an interesting one. I don’t disagree, but also should forgiveness/ rehabilitation allow people back into probably the top 0.000000001% of earners on the planet and live a life most can only dream of? I’m not really sure where I stand on it.
Their fans are up in arms about it and the paperwork hasn’t been signed yet as far as I’m aware. The mayor is trying to talk them out of the deal.
Even the mayor has vowed to block the transfer lol
£25m for that cretin boggles my mind.
Good news for both the player and for Arsenal. He needs to be at a club where he can get game time. Arsenal needs to shed surplus players (and there a quite a few) as the article mentions to free up space both physically and in wages and, hopefully, raise funds as well. Good luck to Nuno.
Let’s all remember that in reality, there is no such thing as an obligation to buy. We’ve seen this plenty of times before. If they say, “you’re obligated to buy if he plays 20 games”, they can just play him for 19 and he comes back to Arsenal.
So unless he performs, we could well be in the same position next season. Good luck to him though, he’s definitely entertaining.
78 million that’s great business, nice one Edu.
I thought it says ⅞ million, or 875,000.
Fracziono Romano
Not bad business overall. Negotiated price plus poss loan fee should see us break even or make a profit if sold on
Yeah. And I seem to remember at the time of the loan deals to Marseille and then Forest there were reports we got fairly big loan fees. So am sure is a profit if all taken into account.
Yep. It shows that signing players in the 20-23 range is almost always a winner – worst case scenario we just make the money back and reinvest, same with Lokonga.
I think he’ll be better off used as a left winger or left wingback. I doubt he’ll ever cut it as a fullback in a back 4.
I don’t think he’s fooling anyone with that fake beard.
His playing style or abilities might suit other clubs, coaches or styles of play.
The bar is set, at least 10% over what we paid for them. Especially those under 24. Kiwior is in demand so even though he a bit older than Tavares we hopefully should see a huge amount of appearance clauses to offset a lower upfront fee. kinda feel certain he will quickly accumulate appearance in the serie A environment. The English guys should be an easy sell, as those teams will be looking to overseas buys to reduce their overall spend, I’d expect they would go a little above for an English talent to increase their homegrown quota, especially players… Read more »
One of the perks of challenging for the league is people perceive your backup players as decent and consequently you can sell them more easily even if not at a premium. Arsenal of 5 years ago would have been getting 2m bids for Nuno or no bids at all
He has a great physicality, young enough to cement himself into a size like lazio. good luck pal