Italian side Atlanta have expressed an interest in signing Gunners left back Nuno Tavares, according to reliable Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.
Arsenal brought in the Portuguese fullback from Benfica last summer, but the young defender has shown signs of rawness, an unpolished nature to his play, chaos in human form.
Atlanta are keen to embrace that chaos, and have “set their sights” on the 22-year-old. However, they are falling far short of what the Gunners request.
Edu and co. require either a “dry loan” for their rapid defender, or a purchase clause of €40 million for Tavares.
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That fee would appear to be a non-starter for La Dea, meaning that as things stand talks are at an impasse.
The Gunners have been linked with multiple fullbacks in the window so far, having seen their season collapse in the absence of Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney.
Their absences coincided with the disintegration of Arsenal’s Champions League push, so Arteta will be keen to avoid a repeat next season.
Aaron Hickey and Oleksandr Zinchenko are names touted to make the trip to N5, and if a departure for Nuno Tavares were to materialise, movement may well be made towards acquiring the services of one of those talented fullbacks.
Jake Lennard