Nuno Tavares has been told that he has the potential to play for top teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Manchester City.
Arsenal signed the defender from Benfica in 2021, paying around £8m for him. He played frequently for the Gunners last season, but his performances were not up to the mark in the absence of Kieran Tierney, who was out with injuries for most of the season.
Criticism of Tavares was rife due to his poor defensive performances, which resulted in his loan move to Marseille at the start of this season.
Tavares has often played in an advanced position in Ligue 1, but the French media has called him an “unreliable” player with “many shortcomings.”
Despite this, Marseille manager Igor Tudor has praised Tavares, stating that he “still needs to grow.” Tudor has even opined that Tavares has the talent to play for some of the world’s best teams.
Tudor spoke highly of Tavares and said as quoted by Football365,
“He’s still a young player. He’s got fantastic physical capacities. He’s got an outstanding ability to run. He could play at Real Madrid, at Barcelona, at Manchester City… He still needs to grow and progress, we talk a lot to him,”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Tavares has shown glimpses of his potential, but his defensive abilities need improvement. He has impressed while playing in an attacking role for Marseille, but it remains to be seen if he can adapt to the defensive requirements of the Premier League.
Despite his struggles at Arsenal, Tavares’ physical attributes and attacking potential have not gone unnoticed, and he may still have a bright future ahead of him.
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With such glowing comments from Igor Tudor, hopefully he will keep the kid another year on loan.
Wasn’t the last article about the manager being unimpressed?
Why not convert him into a winger or left side midfield to play to his strengths. We all know he is not good as a defender.
His athleticism is undoubted, but, unfortunately he simply does not possess the technical skills and football intelligence to become a top quality player in my opinion.I hope he proves me wrong but I very much doubt if he will.In many ways he is similar to AMN.
I’m very sure he has the technical skills – he’s extremely good with the ball at his feet and can do basically everything to a high standard. It’s the football intelligence part that I think will really hold him back. If he focuses on his development and perhaps changes position or finds a club that best suits his style, he could still take off and become a really top player imo
Funny how last week he was rubbish and this week he’s great.
In the event of Tierney leaving, and considering he’s improved somewhat, wouldn’t Tavares at least make practical cover for Zinchenko as an inverted defender?