Question marks have appeared over the futures of several Arsenal players this summer, but not many expected Kieran Tierney to be among those with uncertainty surrounding them.
"No, and you know that I’m not gonna be commenting on individual cases," Mikel Arteta replied when asked if he was aware of reports linking the player to Manchester City last week. Nobody is doubting the quality and the commitment in which the Scotsman possesses, but a number of injury setbacks along with the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko have once again seen him lose his starting spot, and it's a situation that may cause him to reconsider his position moving forward.
It was Nuno Tavares who was initially brought in last summer in an attempt to ease the pressure off Tierney and provide the 25-year-old with sufficient competition throughout the 2021/22 campaign. However, Tavares' inexperience ultimately proved that it was too soon for him to hold down a regular place in the first-team squad.
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Despite there being plenty of encouraging glimpses of what Tavares has to offer, the negatives slightly outweighed the positives and so Arteta and technical director Edu decided that a loan move was the next best step. "For Nuno's development I think it’s going to be really important," the Arsenal boss said.
Although it's still early days, Arteta can relax by knowing that Tavares is on the right track to finally take over from Tierney in the future. That's because the left-back has hit the ground running for Marseille, scoring two goals in two matches while picking up a Man of the Match award and making the Ligue 1 Team of the Week in the process. Tavares has also received an 8.13 rating from WhoScored, one of the highest in the French league so far this season.
Although Arteta is yet to publicly react to the youngster's impressive start in France, he will no doubt be keeping a close eye on his performances just as he did with William Saliba, who also found himself in the spotlight at the same club last season. There will be an acceptance within the walls of London Colney that Tavares is further behind the centre-back in terms of progress and experience, but there will also be hope that Tavares can mirror his growth on and off the pitch.
Saliba finds himself back in north London following three consecutive loan spells despite joining the club back in 2019 for around £27million, but it was at Marseille that saw him pick up Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year and receive his first senior call-up to the French national team. As a result of an outstanding season, Arteta finally decided that Saliba was ready to play for the Gunners. Now it's Tavares' turn to prove a point and eye the void that could emerge in Arsenal's backline.
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