Journalist Sam Blitz has claimed that Arsenal were right to allow Nuno Tavares to leave on loan after he agreed a deal to move to Marseille.
The defender picked up his fair share of minutes last season in the absence of Kieran Tierney to injury, and even retained a first-team role after the Scot had recovered before his defensive weaknesses began to be exposed.
His minutes in the latter part of the campaign was increasingly limited after being exposed at the back, and Blitz has told Sky Sports that it was the right decision to let him leave this summer.
“It was unlikely that Nuno Tavares was going to usurp Kieran Tierney in the left-back position,” Sam Blitz told Sky Sports News. “In fact, Tavares wasn’t probably expected to play as many as 28 times last season. The Portuguese defender looked promising in places but individual errors let him down. There’s not quite the same trust in Tavares that other fringe players at Arsenal have.”
The club clearly believes he has the potential to be a top player in the future, otherwise we would have allowed him to join Atalanta, instead of refusing to include an option to buy in his loan move.
He has great qualities going forward, but that lack of composure when passing backwards proved costly more than once, and he can hopefully work on that in France with Marseille.
Do you believe Nuno has what it takes to work his way back into the fold at Arsenal?
Patrick