Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares was substituted in the first half against Nottingham Forest – and Lazio now want to sign him this month.
Tavares suffered the embarrassment of being hooked before the half-time whistle even blew.
Brennan Johnson ran riot for Forest against Tavares, prompting Arteta to substitute him after just 35 minutes.
On came Kieran Tierney, but it didn’t exactly help; Forest still claimed a 1-0 win and dumped Arsenal out of the FA Cup.
Tavares was slammed by Roy Keane for being ‘sloppy’ in his time on the pitch, questioning why the left back was so upset at bring substituted.
Keane suggested that Tavares should have known how bad he was and not questioned Arteta’s decision.
Now almost 96 hours on from that defeat, Tavares is being linked with a move away from Arsenal.
Gazzetta dello Sport claim that Lazio are opportunistically looking to offer Tavares a route out of the Emirates Stadium.
It’s stated that Lazio want to take Tavares on loan with a permanent option, but need to offload players of their own first.
Arsenal have just loaned one player to the Italian capital with Ainsley Maitland-Niles now with Roma, but this one surely won’t happen.
Tavares may have endured a nightmare at Forest, but he has largely been impressive cover for Tierney.
Arteta hailed him as ‘very gifted’ less than three months ago, and surely won’t just axe the Portuguese talent now.
Given Tierney’s well-documented injury issues over the years, Arsenal would be wise not to let his main cover leave.
Add in that Sead Kolasinac looks likely to go too, and Arsenal just can’t afford to leave themselves short at left back.
Tavares needs to show consistency and bounce back from last weekend’s embarrassment, but a move to Lazio surely isn’t in his immediate future.
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