After investing more than £200 million in new players this summer, Arsenal will now “focus on departures,” with full-back Nuno Tavares set to be one of those departing as he is no longer a part of “Mikel Arteta’s longer-term plans,” according to Sky Sports writer Dharmesh Sheth.
Nuno Tavares is expected to leave Arsenal this summer.
To make sure they don’t succumb to the same defeat they did at the end of the previous season the following year, Arsenal has been lavishly spending money this summer.
The Gunners made the second-most expensive acquisition in the club’s history when they acquired German international Kai Havertz from their cross-city rivals Chelsea in a transaction reported to be worth £65 million.
After that, Arteta finally acquired his top target, Declan Rice of West Ham United, who switched from the East End to Islington in a transaction worth an eye-popping £105 million, a record for a British player.
Then, for a cool £34 million, the Premier League runners-up acquired the energetic and versatile Dutch defender Jurrien Timber from Amsterdam powerhouse Ajax.
Arsenal has spent about £204 million on players overall, so it makes sense that they would focus on offloading some of them before bringing in new ones. According to Sky Sports reporter Dharmesh Sheth, Tavares, a Portuguese under-21 international, is one of those players who is likely to leave.
On Sky Sports News, he provided an explanation of the incident, according to Football Daily:
“At the present, the spotlight is on exits because they spent £200 million on Declan Rice, Jurrien Timber, and Kai Havertz. Many players have the potential to leave Arsenal during this transfer window.
Nuno Tavares is one of those players, and we don’t believe Mikel Arteta has any long-term ambitions for him. Werder Breman and Wolfsburg both have an interest. They probably paid roughly £8 million for him, and I believe they would want about €15 million (£13 million) in exchange. Nuno Tavares is thus among the Arsenal players to watch.
What is Nuno Tavares’ annual salary?
The energetic full-back is only the 31st highest earner at Arsenal, which makes sense considering his relative insignificance to Arteta’s new vision for the team. His current salary is £27,000 per week, or £1.4 million annually.
The 23-year-old spent last season on loan at Ligue 1 powerhouse Marseille, and despite a promising start, he was unable to secure a starting position on the French Riviera, starting just 23 league games and making an additional eight substitute appearances.
Nevertheless, he was still able to deliver some strong performances for Les Olympiens when he was at the Stade Velodrome, tallying six goals, 2.1 shots, one Man-of-the-Match award, and an average match rating of 6.86, according to WhoScored.
His underlying statistics amply demonstrate that he has always been a stronger attacker than a defender, indicating that he would be well worth a gamble for a side that plays with a lot of aggression.
The Lisbon-born dynamo ranks in the top 1% of fullbacks for total shots, top 2% for successful take-ons and progressive passes received, top 3% for non-penalty expected goals, top 6% for non-penalty goals and touches in the opposition’s penalty area, and top 7% for progressive carries, all per 90. FBref compares players in a similar position across Europe’s top five leagues.
With his amazing attacking threat, he could wreck havoc for either Werder Bremen or Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, even though it didn’t quite work for him in north London.
