£7m Arsenal loanee has scored 3 times in 4 games since leaving Arteta

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Mikel Arteta is ever so lucky that Oleksandr Zinchenko has hit the ground running at Arsenal this season.

The Ukraine international has impressed in three of the Gunners’ four Premier League outings since joining the North Londoners and only missed the victory over Fulham on Saturday due to injury.

And the Arsenal manager is fortunate for his early-season form because the player who left the Emirates Stadium as a result of Zinchenko’s arrival is really tearing it up overseas.

Arteta loaned Nuno Tavares to Marseille, following a difficult first season in the Premier League last term.

However, the former Benfica left-back, a £7 million signing last summer, is enjoying a phenomenal spell in Ligue 1 thus far.

On Sunday, he scored in a 3-0 victory away to OGC Nice and, in doing so, Tavares has now found the net in three of his last four games for Marseille.

What’s even more impressive is that his goal on Sunday was from outside the box, with his weaker right foot.

Arsenal supporters won’t be that surprised by his form, however.

Tavares’s biggest problem in England was defending. Going forward, he looked like the left-back equivalent of Thierry Henry on a number of occasions.

The Portuguese 22-year-old is one hell of an athlete, capable of the same powerful running that the Arsenal icon demonstrated over many years at Highbury and Europe.

With someone as good as Kieran Tierney behind Zinchenko in Arteta’s pecking order, it’s possible that Tavares will never go back to the Gunners and have a meaningful role in the senior squad.

He left England with a lot of questions to answer and, well, he’s certainly answering them and if he can improve on his defending between now and next summer, who knows what the future holds.