Nuno Tavares has joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the season.
Depending on how he gets on, the Portugal under-21 international could make the move on a permanent basis with City having an option to buy the player for £12 million plus add-ons next summer. There’s even talk of that becoming an obligation to buy if he hits certain targets, so it’s potentially a very decent deal.
Tavares joined the Gunners two years ago from Benfica for £7 million to provide backup to Kieran Tierney and the left-back impressed Mikel Arteta with his early performances who noted, “he is not fazed at all when is playing” and that “he is naturally a very gifted athlete.”
Unfortunately, those qualities didn’t add up to Tavares being a disciplined defender and soon enough, he lost the trust of his manager.
The writing was on the wall when Arsenal recruited Oleksandr Zinchenko last summer and Tavares was promptly shipped out on loan to Marseille. As was the case when he moved to Emirates Stadium, he made a strong start at the Stade Velodrome, even scoring three goals in his four games in Ligue 1.
While the wing-back role suited him better, stories started to filter out of France that the 23-year-old was considered a bit of a liability in defence. Despite making 39 appearances for Marseille, his return to London didn’t come as a surprise.
Clubs in Germany weighed up a move for him this summer before Forest stepped up their interest.
Nuno says, “I’m really happy to be here. Forest is an historic club which won two European Cups and to be part of it makes me really happy.
“I’m really happy to stay in the Premier League as it’s the best league in the world and I’m thankful to Forest for giving me that opportunity.”
All the best at Forest, Nuno. Sorry it didn’t work out at the Arsenal for you.
Good deal if that £12m option gets activated. Good luck to him!
All the best at Forest, Nuno!
Good luck Nuno.
Hope they don’t play you at full-back
I think it was against Forest in the FA Cup a couple of seasons ago when Tavares was pretty awful, don’t think he’s regained the gaffers trust since then.
Anyways, good luck to you and hope you contribute to sensational victories against Manchesters, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea. Thank you.
According to Fabrizio, there’s a £1m loan fee, and £3m add-ons on top of the £12m. If true, that’s very decent business.
Let’s hope he has a great season, and the clause is activated. Up to you Nuno!
Good luck Nuno – hope you fly for Forest. BTW, remember that time you scored against Man Utd, and that when you made that lovely assist against the Geordies? Can pull that out again this season? Thanks in advance 😉
Of the players remaining surplus to requirements, this was the only certainty. Let’s hope we manage to offload a few more
Cedric, Cedric, Cedric and Cedric.
Now if only Forest was interested in our Portuguese right-back too..
Cloughie would turn in his grave with those two clowns running out of the tunnel at the City ground in a red shirt! 😂
The hatred directed at Cedric is deranged, the guys a Euro’s winner with 30 odd caps for his country. I’m pretty sure Forest have had far worse players in the last 20 years than him.
Him and Serge Aurier in the same lineup is gonna be fun for Forest fans.
Good luck to him. Hopefully it works out and he proves a handy player for them. They’re an exciting counter attacking team which could be ideal for him as a pacey fullback with some end product. It’s still the defensive lapses that will be the concern with Nuno but perhaps he could do a job as a more advanced player.
Hope Forest survives and Nuno finds his feet.
Sometimes he looked like he didn’t know where his feet were…
… and other times he was great.
Good luck at Forest, Captain Chaos!
Sadly the times he didn’t look like he knew where his feet were vastly outnumbered the times he was great…
Good luck to him anyway. Fingers crossed it works out & we aren’t here facing the same situation next summer
Love this guy….. dunno why🤷♂️
Just do
Good riddance. Go and throw your kit at the Forest bench, when they haul you off in the first half because your attitude stinks and your ability to read the game and hold a position is zero.
Sad, but true
Yep.
I couldn’t give a shit about the downvotes. The guy was a liability of the Mustafi variety.
Points and Cup ties are too valuable these days to be ruined by passengers.
Hopefully Cedric will be out of the door soon as well.
I am sorry to see him go. Really like the Chaos Factor he brought. Pity it didn’t work out .
If, and when Zinchenko who is great at going forward and crap at defending gets injured, who will play the left back role? Tommy? Timber is injured, KT is gone, Cedric should go, Tavares gone, Kiwior is not a natural left back. Am I missing someone or are we done with left backs?
LB? Anyone has an answer for this scenario?
In terms of role, there is no like-for-like replacement for Zinny – if he gets injured, then we we slot either TT or JK into the LB position, but their tactical role will be different and we’ll make adjustments to other players’ roles accordingly (just as we did from the moment that Timber got injured). Neither will offer the link-up play of Zinny, but both will offer more defensive solidity. If we kept Nuno (or kept KT, or keep Cedric) this’d still be the case; we’d still have to slot someone in at LB and shift around some tactical roles.… Read more »
Inevitable really. We do have an excess of left-sided attacking players? What do you mean, he’s a defender? Really?
It’s Forest, not “City”, that have an option to buy.
Now that would be a cracker of a deal. Goes on loan to Forest, and if he hits his targets, City is forced to buy him
Congrats, Tavares. Best wishes 🙏🏾