It is unlikely that Nuno Tavares will continue his football with Marseille next season after an inconsistent loan spell in Ligue 1. The Portuguese youth international left the Gunners after just one season with Mikel Arteta and the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko significantly limited his chances of minutes.
Marseille continued their strong relationship with Arsenal that had already seen William Saliba succeed there on loan with Matteo Guendouzi and Sead Kolasinac moving permanently to join former Gunners star, Alexis Sanchez. However, unlike the Frenchman before him, Tavares has not shone in the same way and despite his six goals a reporter for RMC Sport Florent German said via Sport Witness that, “he is too inconsistent and that it is not going to work out.”
He added: “That is what is frustrating. You feel enormous potential in this player and we know that it’s a difficult position to sign someone who gives you so much offensively, but there are so many shortcomings and he’s an unreliable player.”
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With Tavares returning and no sign of a place for him back in the Gunners squad, even if Kieran Tierney was to depart, Arsenal will surely look to sell the player permanently. The benefit the club have is making a profit on the approximate £7million price tag they paid Benfica in 2021 should be attainable after two seasons in both the Premier League and Ligue 1.
But how much should Edu Gaspar be looking to get? His early impressive form for OM certainly raised the expectation but calls for figures similar to the £30million that they club paid for Zinchenko are contextually fanciful at best.
Arsenal’s record in the sales market isn’t up there with the best. Joe Willock and Emi Martinez represent the only major sales since 2020, which was the summer now sporting director Edu took leading control of the club’s business after the early summer departure of former head of football Raul Sanllehi.
However, this summer the club have a significant number of assets they’ll potentially look to move on, including Tavares. Nicolas Pepe, Kieran Tierney, Folarin Balogun, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Cedric Soares, Auston Trusty, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Alex Runarsson to name the likely candidates.
With this openness to sell it naturally lowers the asking price of players. This, combined with the club’s current reputation in the market, the fact that Tavares will not count as a homegrown player, his inconsistency with Marseille and a deal that expires in just two seasons any potential fee upwards of £15million could be seen as good business; especially considering this is more than double what the club bought him for.
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