It has been an interesting week on and off the pitch for several members of this season's Arsenal loan army.
This perhaps applies to none of the 29-man strong group more so than Nuno Tavares. Either side of starting Marseille's 1-1 draw at home to Montpellier on Friday night he was tipped to be good enough to play for another European heavyweight after his spell in France comes to an end before reportedly being kicked out of a training session.
"He's still a young player but he has fantastic physical capacities," Marseille boss Igor Tudor stated. "He's got an outstanding ability to run. He could play at Real, at Barcelona, at Manchester City… he still needs to grow and progress, we talk a lot to him."
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Now for one reason or another neither Albert Sambi Lokonga, Marcelo Flores, Tyreece John-Jules, Mika Biereth, Ryan Alebiosu, Miguel Azeez, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Tim Akinola, Alex Kirk, Tom Smith, Taylor Foran, Ovie Ejeheri, Kido Taylor-Hart or Billy Vigar featured in a competitive fixture for their respective clubs over the past seven days.
However, Cedric Soares was in action but couldn't help Fulham fall to defeat against Bournemouth after coming off the bench. It was a similar theme for Ainsley Maitland-Niles on his return to London as Southampton lost a Premier League relegation six-pointer against West Ham United.
Charlie Patino was back in action after the international break but it was a derby experience to forget as Blackpool were beaten 3-1 by Preston North End. Elsewhere in the Championship, Marquinhos started Norwich City's 1-0 loss at home to Sheffield United and Brooke Norton-Cuffy was a substitute in Coventry's 4-0 defeat by Stoke City.
Although, Omar Rekik did have a reason to celebrate as he helped Wigan record a huge win over QPR whilst after making his USMNT debut during the international break, Auston Trusty started Birmingham City's 1-0 win over play-off hopefuls Blackburn Rovers and in League Two there was a bittersweet moment for Mazeed Ogungbo as he was on the scoresheet in a 4-1 loss for Crawley against Mansfield.
Across Europe, Runar Alex Runarsson conceded two late goals as Alanyaspor drew with Giresunspor, Nikolaj Moller couldn't score the second successive game as Den Bosch were beaten by Willem II and Arthur Okonkwo helped Sturm Graz beat Rapid Wien.
With that in mind, below football.london rounds up the big headlines regarding the remaining Arsenal loanees from the past seven days.
£5.9m deal still on course
Pablo Mari started Monza's 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Lazio and it's now one win in their last six Serie A matches. But as they are 15 points clear of the relegation zone it means Arsenal remain on course for a £5.9million windfall this summer as football.london understands there is an obligation for this deal to be made permanent as long as the Italian side avoid the drop.
Balogun foiled
Not for the lack of trying but Folarin Balogun wasn't able to get on the scoresheet for Reims in their 3-0 win over Nantes. The striker had a couple of chances in the second half, including one effort that clipped the top of the crossbar. He did, however, claim assists and remains two behind Kylian Mbappe and Jonathan David in the Ligue 1 top-scorer race.
Pepe reveals discussions
Nicolas Pepe was in the Nice side that drew 1-1 with Angers on Sunday but he's done some talking away from the pitch in the past week and it's to do with his future
"I am very happy at Nice. There are two important months to come for this club," he said, as translated by France Bleu Azur. "I want to concentrate on that and I’m not sure after that. There will be discussions."
This could be rather significant especially because Pepe is one of several Arsenal loanees that can command a fee at the end of the season, assuming he has no long-term future under Mikel Arteta.
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