Arsenal full-back and Portuguese defender Nuno Tavares has completed a season-long loan move to Nottingham Forest.
Tavares, who has struggled for a place in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal setup, was linked to another loan exit from the club this summer after returning from a loan move to Marseille.
Nuno Tavares joined Arsenal from Benfica in 2021 after making 25 Primeira appearances for the club, scoring one goal.
Before his break-in into Benfica first team in 2019, Tavares nursed his burgeoning career with Benfica youth from 2015 to 2018.
He also had spells with Sporting CP youth and Casa Pica youth and made his senior career debut with Benfica reserve team in 2019. He made 19 appearances for the club and was drafted into the first team the next year, where he made his Primeira Liga debut.
Tavares played for two years for Benfica before attracting interest from Arsenal and other top clubs in Europe.
Arsenal beat the competition to sign the youngster for £8m on a four-year contract in 2021.
Nuno Tavares was set for a brilliant start to his Arsenal career. He made his Arsenal debut coming on as a substitute in Premier League win over Brentford in August 2021. However, he struggled to carve a niche for himself in Mikel Arteta’s defense setup.
He was handed a golden chance to cement his starting berth at Arsenal when Kieran Tierney suffered an injury blow in 2021 but he blew it away despite an impressive first start. Tavares struggled to fit into Arteta’s structure with his poor positioning skills and inaccurate passes.
After a poor start with the Gunners, he was loaned to Olympique Marseille in French Ligue 1, joining the club on a season-long loan deal with no buy option.
According to reports, Tavares did not want to return to Arsenal after his loan spell at Marseille. He plotted a move to make the 2021 Marseille loan deal permanent but was met with rejection by Arsenal.
He starred for Marseille, scoring in his two consecutive French Ligue 1 starts for the club. He made 31 Ligue 1 appearance for the club, scoring 6 goals.
Nuno Tavares was back to Arsenal after the expiration of his loan tenure but was still on the peripheries at Emirates with Nottingham Forest, Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg, and Aston Villa among the clubs who indicated interest to sign him.
Nottingham Forest beat the competition to seal a move for Tavares on another loan deal worth £12m with the player set to wile away another one year of his remaining four-year contract with Arsenal at City Ground.
Unlike his first loan deal with Marseille, Nuno Tavares could settle at City Ground on a permanent deal as Arsenal have agreed to a buy option at the end of the loan spell.
Should Nottingham Forest refuse to trigger the buyout clause, Nuno Tavares will return to Arsenal to complete the remaining one year of his Arsenal contract next summer.
He is Arsenal’s first deadline day exit and the latest player to leave the club after USA international Folarin Balogun completed a permanent move to Monaco
